Teams from Toyota Research Institute and Northwestern University have developed new AI-driven methods to develop next generation materials to help reduce carbon emissions. They have developed a nanomaterial “data factory”, which they say is the world’s first.

According to Toyota and Northwestern, their new AI-driven methodology goes beyond traditional trial and error by exploring vast parameter sets, collecting data and using AI to search materials databases to find the best materials for a given application.

The first application of the data factory will be used to discover new catalysts to make fuel cell vehicles more efficient. However, TRI and Northwestern believe this method of materials discovery will have wide-ranging applications in the future such as clean hydrogen production, CO2 removal from air and high-efficiency solar cells.

TRI and Northwestern have developed a machine learning algorithm for synthesizing materials to sift through Northwestern’s new megalibraries — a library containing very large amounts of data on inorganic materials. This creates what is being described as a nanomaterial data factory — an effort to mine large datasets of complex data.

The team is developing a data factory to find lower cost, more common materials for catalysts to replace the expensive, rare materials currently used, such as platinum and iridium.

Prior to this collaboration, machine learning algorithms have been trained on lower-quality, inconsistently-gathered data sets. Now, with Northwestern and TRI’s new capabilities, high-quality data sets can be used by the team to train complex algorithms that enable the rapid and objective discovery of crucial materials for unmet needs.

“Meeting the growing demand for mobility without emitting carbon is a major challenge,” said Brian Storey, TRI senior director of energy and materials. “Through this partnership with Northwestern, we have significantly reduced the time it takes to test and find new materials that can be used in batteries and fuel cells to decarbonize transportation.”

“This groundbreaking research marks an inflection point in how we discover and develop critical materials,” said Chad Mirkin, director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern. “Together with TRI, we’re poised to empower the scientific community to find the best materials that can truly power the clean energy transition.”