During recent research in cooperation with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan, we mitigated the use of HoB2 compound for hydrogen liquefaction applications. Liquid hydrogen is one of the main candidates to act as a clean energy carrier in a CO2-free society, and magnetocaloric cooling could increase the efficiency of the liquefaction process. In this investigation, copper was used as an additional element to strengthen the mechanical properties of this magnetocaloric material, without sacrificing the magnetocaloric performance. By using our unique simultaneous device, we were able to investigate at once the magnetic properties and the stress generated in the material by thermal or magnetic stimuli. The full publication in Acta Materialia can be accessed in the following link: 10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121227.

We thank NIMS for another successful cooperation on developing high-performance functional Materials.