Are dielectrics a viable alternative to commercial energy storage?

Dielectrics are essential for modern energy storage, but currently have limitations in energy density and thermal stability. Here, the authors discover dielectrics with 11 times the energy density of commercial alternatives at elevated temperatures.

Why is a high thermal stability dielectric important?

For example, the high thermal stability of each dielectric in Fig. 3 b eliminates the need for capacitor cooling systems. Among these dielectrics, those with higher Ue are preferred, as this attribute reduces the amount of capacitor material required to store a fixed amount of energy.

Can artificial intelligence help converge on high-performance dielectrics?

Within the vast expanse of chemical possibilities for all polymers, it is likely that a wide variety of high-performance dielectrics await discovery. Well-trained and calibrated artificial intelligence (AI), capable of handling large numbers that challenge human imagination, can help converge on extraordinary materials rapidly.

How can a new generation of AI improve materials discovery?

Any of these approaches to materials discovery would benefit from increased accuracy of the polyGNN models—perhaps using strategies like pretraining 51, 52 —to reduce the amount of time spent on bad leads. Moreover, significant resources should be dedicated to a new generation of AI characterized by human interpretability.

Can machine learning be used to design polymers for energy storage capacitors?

Kern, J., Chen, L., Kim, C. & Ramprasad, R. Design of polymers for energy storage capacitors using machine learning and evolutionary algorithms. J. Mater. Sci. 56, 19623–19635 (2021). Gurnani, R. et al. polyG2G: a novel machine learning algorithm applied to the generative design of polymer dielectrics.

Does polyverse work in high-temperature dielectric search?

This study introduces the polyVERSE ("polymers designed by Virtually-Executed Rule-Based Synthesis Experiments”) paradigm (Fig. 1 a), showcasing its success in achieving these four attributes in the context of high-temperature dielectric search.