To accelerate the search for advanced functional materials critical for enhancing the performance of solar cells, transistors, LEDs, and batteries, scientists are leveraging AI tools to identify promising materials from hundreds of millions of chemical formulations. Concurrently, engineers are developing machines capable of printing hundreds of material samples at a time based on chemical compositions identified by AI algorithms. However, a significant bottleneck has been the slow characterization process to confirm the performance of these newly printed materials.
MIT engineers have now developed a computer vision technique that dramatically speeds up the characterization process of newly synthesized electronic materials. This technique automatically analyzes images of printed semiconducting samples and quickly estimates two crucial electronic properties: the band gap (which measures electron activation energy) and stability (which measures longevity). The new method is 85 times faster than the standard benchmark approach in characterizing electronic materials.
The researchers aim to use this technique to expedite the search for promising solar cell materials and plan to integrate it into a fully automated materials screening system. This integration would allow for a completely autonomous lab capable of predicting potential compounds, synthesizing them, and characterizing their properties continuously until the desired materials are discovered.
MIT graduate student Eunice Aissi envisions this technique as part of an autonomous lab that could run 24/7, solving materials problems more efficiently. Fellow graduate student Alexander (Aleks) Siemenn emphasizes the broad application potential of this technique, which spans improvements in solar energy, transparent electronics, and transistors, among other areas where semiconductor materials can significantly benefit society.
The computer vision technique represents a major advancement in the pipeline of advanced materials screening, potentially revolutionizing the way electronic materials are discovered and characterized, leading to faster and more effective innovations in various technology sectors.
