Chemical Engineering Researchers Develop Self-Driven Lab for Synthesis of Advanced Functional Materials

A Proof-of-Concept for AlphaFlow’s Efficiency

A team of chemical engineering researchers has developed a groundbreaking self-driven lab called AlphaFlow that can optimize the discovery of complex multistep reaction routes for the synthesis of advanced functional materials and molecules. AlphaFlow integrates artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, specifically reinforcement learning, with automated microfluidic devices to accelerate the material discovery process.

AlphaFlow’s AI Model and Decision Making Process

Traditional techniques for discovering new chemistries rely on varying one parameter at a time, but AlphaFlow can conduct more experiments than 100 human chemists in the same period while using less than 0.01% of the relevant chemicals. The AI model behind AlphaFlow makes decisions on what experiment to conduct next based on data it has developed from experiments it already ran and what it predicts the results of the next several experiments will be.

AlphaFlow: Making Discoveries and Optimizations

AlphaFlow has a range of applications from discovering new chemicals to optimizing the manufacturing process for known chemicals. For discovery, the system is trying to determine which precursors need to be added, as well as the best order in which to add them, in order to find a chemistry with the best performance. Whereas for optimization, the AI model already knows which precursors need to be added and in which order, and its focus is on determining what amount of each precursor is needed, as well as the amount of time needed for each reaction, to reach optimal performance most efficiently.

AI and Chemistry: The Integration That Reduces Development Time

AlphaFlow’s integration of AI and chemistry reduces the amount of time it takes to develop new chemistries by at least an order of magnitude. This system also offers new insights into fundamental chemistry by developing a new means of producing a semiconductor nanocrystal with fewer steps, broadening our understanding of the chemistry involved.

AlphaFlow and Colloidal Atomic Layer Deposition

At present, AlphaFlow is set up to conduct experiments related to colloidal atomic layer deposition, but it could be modified to conduct any range of experiments that involve performing chemical reactions in solution. The researchers are now seeking partners in both the research community and private sector to use AlphaFlow to address chemistry challenges.

AlphaFlow: The Future of Chemistry Research?

AlphaFlow is open source, and the researchers believe in sharing high-quality, reproducible, standardized, experimental data, both from failures and successes, to accelerate the discovery of new materials and chemical processes. AlphaFlow is the first self-driven lab that integrates reinforcement learning with AI, highlighting the extent to which AI and the physical sciences can benefit each other.