Using AI to Find the Polymers of the Future

August 19, 2024 – Nylon, Teflon, Kevlar are typical examples of ‘modern’ polymers invented by scientists, that have had a huge impact on both industry and society. Finding new, innovative polymers is a complex challenge. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate progress in this area. The team led by Rampi Ramprasad develops and adapts AI algorithms to optimize the discovery process of new materials.
This summer, the researchers published two papers presenting recent developments in this area. The first paper, published in Nature Reviews Materials, discusses recent breakthroughs in polymer design in key application areas such as energy storage, filtration technologies, and recyclable plastics. The second – published in Nature Communications – focuses on the use of AI algorithms to discover a specific subclass of polymers for electrostatic energy storage. The materials designed by AI have been successfully synthesized and tested in laboratories.

Both papers can be found on the Georgia Institute of Technology website>