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At least 235 records · Page 13

Efficient sampling of free energy landscapes with functions in Sobolev spaces

Molecular simulations of biological and physical phenomena generally involve sampling complicated, rough energy landscapes characterized by multiple local minima. In this work, we introduce a new family of methods for advanced sampling that draw inspiration from functional representations used in machine learning and approximation theory. As shown here, such representations are particularly well suited for learning free energies using artificial neural networks. As a system evolves through phase space, the proposed methods gradually build a model for the free energy as a function of one or more collective variables, from both the frequency of visits to distinct states and generalized force estimates corresponding to such states. Implementation of the methods is relatively simple and, more importantly, for the representative examples considered in this work, they provide computational efficiency gains of up to several orders of magnitude over other widely used simulation techniques.

Approximation theory↗

Rheological Properties of Small-Molecular Liquids at High Shear Strain Rates

Molecular-scale understanding of rheological properties of small-molecular liquids and polymers is critical to optimizing their performance in practical applications such as lubrication and hydraulic fracking. We combine nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations with two unsupervised machine learning methods: principal component analysis (PCA) and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), to extract the correlation between the rheological properties and molecular structure of squalane sheared at high strain rates (10 6 –10 10 s -1 ) for which substantial shear thinning is observed under pressures P ϵ 0.1–955 MPa at 293 K. Intramolecular atom pair orientation tensors of 435 × 6 dimensions and the intermolecular atom pair orientation tensors of 61 × 6 dimensions are reduced and visualized using PCA and t-SNE to assess the changes in the orientation order during the shear thinning of squalane. Dimension reduction of intramolecular orientation tensors at low pressures P = 0.1,100 MPa reveals a strong correlation between changes in strain rate and the orientation of the side-backbone atom pairs, end-backbone atom pairs, short backbone-backbone atom pairs, and long backbone-backbone atom pairs associated with a squalane molecule. At high pressures P ≥ 400 MPa, the orientation tensors are better classified by these different pair types rather than strain rate, signaling an overall limited evolution of intramolecular orientation with changes in strain rate. Dimension reduction also finds no clear evidence of the link between shear thinning at high pressures and changes in the intermolecular orientation. The alignment of squalane molecules is found to be saturated over the entire range of rates during which squalane exhibits substantial shear thinning at high pressures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Accuracy, transferability, and computational efficiency of interatomic potentials for simulations of carbon under extreme conditions

Large-scale atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide an exceptional opportunity to advance the fundamental understanding of carbon under extreme conditions of high pressures and temperatures. However, the fidelity of these simulations depends heavily on the accuracy of classical interatomic potentials governing the dynamics of many-atom systems. Here, this study critically assesses several popular empirical potentials for carbon, as well as machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs), in their ability to simulate a range of physical properties at high pressures and temperatures, including the diamond equation of state, its melting line, shock Hugoniot, uniaxial compressions, and the structure of liquid carbon. Empirical potentials fail to accurately predict the behavior of carbon under high pressure–temperature conditions. In contrast, MLIPs demonstrate quantum accuracy, with Spectral Neighbor Analysis Potential (SNAP) and atomic cluster expansion (ACE) being the most accurate in reproducing the density functional theory results. ACE displays remarkable transferability despite not being specifically trained for extreme conditions. Furthermore, ACE and SNAP exhibit superior computational performance on graphics processing unit-based systems in billion atom MD simulations, with SNAP emerging as the fastest. In addition to offering practical guidance in selecting an interatomic potential with a fine balance of accuracy, transferability, and computational efficiency, this work also highlights transformative opportunities for groundbreaking scientific discoveries facilitated by quantum-accurate MD simulations with MLIPs on emerging exascale supercomputers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

CACTUS: Chemistry Agent Connecting Tool Usage to Science

Large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable potential in various domains but often lack the ability to access and reason over domain-specific knowledge and tools. In this article, we introduce Chemistry Agent Connecting Tool-Usage to Science (CACTUS), an LLM-based agent that integrates existing cheminformatics tools to enable accurate and advanced reasoning and problem-solving in chemistry and molecular discovery. We evaluate the performance of CACTUS using a diverse set of open-source LLMs, including Gemma-7b, Falcon-7b, MPT-7b, Llama3-8b, and Mistral-7b, on a benchmark of thousands of chemistry questions. Our results demonstrate that CACTUS significantly outperforms baseline LLMs, with the Gemma-7b, Mistral-7b, and Llama3-8b models achieving the highest accuracy regardless of the prompting strategy used. Moreover, we explore the impact of domain-specific prompting and hardware configurations on model performance, highlighting the importance of prompt engineering and the potential for deploying smaller models on consumer-grade hardware without a significant loss in accuracy. By combining the cognitive capabilities of open-source LLMs with widely used domain-specific tools provided by RDKit, CACTUS can assist researchers in tasks such as molecular property prediction, similarity searching, and drug-likeness assessment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

First principles reactive simulation for equation of state prediction

The high cost of density functional theory (DFT) has hitherto limited the ab initio prediction of the equation of state (EOS). In this article, we employ a combination of large scale computing, advanced simulation techniques, and smart data science strategies to provide an unprecedented ab initio performance analysis of the high explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). Comparison to both experiment and thermochemical predictions reveals important quantitative limitations of DFT for EOS prediction and thus the assessment of high explosives. In particular, we find that DFT predicts the energy of PETN detonation products to be systematically too high relative to the unreacted neat crystalline material, resulting in an underprediction of the detonation velocity, pressure, and temperature at the Chapman–Jouguet state. The energetic bias can be partially accounted for by high-level electronic structure calculations of the product molecules. Furthermore we demonstrate a modeling strategy for mapping chemical composition across a wide parameter space with limited numerical data, the results of which suggest additional molecular species to consider in thermochemical modeling.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Development of a machine-learning-based ionic-force correction model for quantum molecular dynamic simulations of warm dense matter

In this work Δ learning is used to map orbital-free density functional theory (OF-DFT) ionic forces to the corresponding Kohn-Sham (KS) DFT ionic forces. The development of the approximate force difference in terms of the ion positions is constructed and serves as a stand in for the ground truth force difference. Descriptor vectors for ion configurations are constructed using all distance between ions in conjunction with an indexing based on a nearest neighbor ranking. It is demonstrated that such a scheme of descriptors can uniquely describe an ionic configuration up to a rotation and reflection when no ambiguity in the nearest neighbor ranking exists. How to handle the case when an ambiguity exists in the nearest neighbor ranking is discussed. As a proof of principle, the model is trained and tested on warm dense hydrogen at temperatures between 1 and 15 eV. Once tested, the model was used to perform molecular dynamic simulations of warm dense hydrogen. Furthermore, the resulting energies and pressures are within 1% and 2% of their respective target KS values.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Shock Hugoniot calculations using on-the-fly machine learned force fields with ab initio accuracy

We present a framework for computing the shock Hugoniot using on-the-fly machine learned force field (MLFF) molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, we employ an MLFF model based on the kernel method and Bayesian linear regression to compute the free energy, atomic forces, and pressure, in conjunction with a linear regression model between the internal and free energies to compute the internal energy, with all training data generated from Kohn–Sham density functional theory (DFT). We verify the accuracy of the formalism by comparing the Hugoniot for carbon with recent Kohn–Sham DFT results in the literature. In so doing, we demonstrate that Kohn–Sham calculations for the Hugoniot can be accelerated by up to two orders of magnitude, while retaining ab initio accuracy. We apply this framework to calculate the Hugoniots of 14 materials in the FPEOS database, comprising 9 single elements and 5 compounds, between temperatures of 10 kK and 2 MK. We find good agreement with first principles results in the literature while providing tighter error bars. In addition, we confirm that the inter-element interaction in compounds decreases with temperature.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Chemical evolution in nitrogen shocked beyond the molecular stability limit

Evolution of nitrogen under shock compression up to 100 GPa is revisited via molecular dynamics simulations using a machine-learned interatomic potential. The model is shown to be capable of recovering the structure, dynamics, speciation, and kinetics in hot compressed liquid nitrogen predicted by first-principles molecular dynamics, as well as the measured principal shock Hugoniot and double shock experimental data, albeit without shock cooling. Our results indicate that a purely molecular dissociation description of nitrogen chemistry under shock compression provides an incomplete picture and that short oligomers form in non-negligible quantities. Finally, this suggests that classical models representing the shock dissociation of nitrogen as a transition to an atomic fluid need to be revised to include reversible polymerization effects.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

On-the-fly machine learned force fields for the study of warm dense matter: Application to diffusion and viscosity of CH

We develop a framework for on-the-fly machine learned force field (MLFF) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of warm dense matter (WDM). In particular, we employ an MLFF scheme based on the kernel method and Bayesian linear regression, with the training data generated from the Kohn–Sham density functional theory (DFT) using the Gauss spectral quadrature method, within which we calculate energies, atomic forces, and stresses. We verify the accuracy of the formalism by comparing the predicted properties of warm dense carbon with recent Kohn–Sham DFT results in the literature. In so doing, we demonstrate that ab initio MD simulations of WDM can be accelerated by up to three orders of magnitude, while retaining ab initio accuracy. We apply this framework to calculate the diffusion coefficients and shear viscosity of CH at a density of 1 g/cm3 and temperatures in the range of 75 000–750 000 K. We find that the self- and inter-diffusion coefficients and the viscosity obey a power law with temperature, and that the diffusion coefficient results suggest a weak coupling between C and H in CH. In addition, we find agreement within standard deviation with previous results for C and CH but disagreement for H, demonstrating the need for ab initio calculations as presented here.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Recent developments in 3D-printed membranes for water desalination

The recognition of membrane separations as a vital technology platform for enhancing the efficiency of separation processes has been steadily increasing. Concurrently, 3D printing has emerged as an innovative approach to fabricating reverse osmosis membranes for water desalination and treatment purposes. This method provides a high degree of control over membrane chemistry and structural properties. In particular, when compared to traditional manufacturing techniques, 3D printing holds the potential to expedite customization, a feat that is typically achieved through conventional manufacturing methods but often involves numerous processes and significant costs. This review aims to present the current advancements in membrane manufacturing technology specifically tailored for water desalination purposes, with a particular focus on the development of 3D-printed membranes. A comprehensive analysis of recent progress in 3D-printed membranes is provided. However, conducting experimental work to investigate various influential factors while ensuring consistent results poses a significant challenge. To address this, we explore how membrane manufacturing processes and performance can be effectively pre-designed and guided through the use of molecular dynamics simulations. Finally, this review outlines the challenges faced and presents future perspectives to shed light on research directions for optimizing membrane manufacturing processes and achieving optimal membrane performance.

3D printing membranes↗

Active deep kernel learning of molecular properties from structural embeddings

As vast databases of chemical identities become increasingly available, the challenge shifts to how we effectively explore and leverage these resources to study molecular properties. This paper presents an active learning approach for molecular discovery using deep kernel learning (DKL), demonstrated on the QM9 dataset. DKL links structural embeddings directly to properties, creating organized latent spaces that prioritize relevant property information. By iteratively recalculating embedding vectors in alignment with target properties, DKL uncovers concentrated maxima representing key molecular properties and reveals unexplored regions with potential for innovation. This approach underscores DKL’s potential in advancing molecular research and discovery.

Artificial neural networks↗

Determination of Infinite Dilution Activity Coefficients of Molecular Solutes in Ionic Liquids and Deep Eutectic Solvents by Factorization-Machine-Based Neural Networks

Widely known as “green solvents,” ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been used as substitutes for traditional organic solvents in separation science. To achieve better separations using ILs and DESs, this work aimed to predict the infinite dilution activity coefficients (IDACs) of molecular solutes in these solvents with the state-of-the-art factorization-machine-based neural network (DeepFM). DeepFM combines the benefits of factorization machines and deep neural networks to learn both low-order and high-order interactions among features. The IDAC prediction model was established with 52,372 experimental IDAC datapoints including 260 solvents (252 ILs and 8 DESs) and 112 molecular solutes collected at various temperatures from 288.15 to 428.15 K. Chemical information describing the ILs, DESs, and molecular solutes was included in the IDAC prediction model, including chemical functional groups, molecular weights, and Abraham solvation parameters. The IDAC prediction model showed an improved accuracy compared with alternative models; additionally, DESs were included in the IDAC prediction model for the first time. Here, the model will reduce the energy and resources needed to optimize the selection of ILs and DESs for specific separations, which will promote the development of these green solvents for sustainable chemical processes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Graphic contrastive learning analyses of discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations: Study of protein folding upon adsorption

A comprehensive understanding of the interfacial behaviors of biomolecules holds great significance in the development of biomaterials and biosensing technologies. In this work, we used discontinuous molecular dynamics (DMD) simulations and graphic contrastive learning analysis to study the adsorption of ubiquitin protein on a graphene surface. Our high-throughput DMD simulations can explore the whole protein adsorption process including the protein structural evolution with sufficient accuracy. Contrastive learning was employed to train a protein contact map feature extractor aiming at generating contact map feature vectors. Subsequently, these features were grouped using the k-means clustering algorithm to identify the protein structural transition stages throughout the adsorption process. The machine learning analysis can illustrate the dynamics of protein structural changes, including the pathway and the rate-limiting step. Our study indicated that the protein–graphene surface hydrophobic interactions and the π–π stacking were crucial to the seven-stage adsorption process. Upon adsorption, the secondary structure and tertiary structure of ubiquitin disintegrated. The unfolding stages obtained by contrastive learning-based algorithm were not only consistent with the detailed analyses of protein structures but also provided more hidden information about the transition states and pathway of protein adsorption process and structural dynamics. Our combination of efficient DMD simulations and machine learning analysis could be a valuable approach to studying the interfacial behaviors of biomolecules.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Interpretation of autoencoder-learned collective variables using Morse–Smale complex and sublevelset persistent homology: An application on molecular trajectories

Dimensionality reduction often serves as the first step toward a minimalist understanding of physical systems as well as the accelerated simulations of them. In particular, neural network-based nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods, such as autoencoders, have shown promising outcomes in uncovering collective variables (CVs). However, the physical meaning of these CVs remains largely elusive. In this work, we constructed a framework that (1) determines the optimal number of CVs needed to capture the essential molecular motions using an ensemble of hierarchical autoencoders and (2) provides topology-based interpretations to the autoencoder-learned CVs with Morse–Smale complex and sublevelset persistent homology. Furthermore, this approach was exemplified using a series of n-alkanes and can be regarded as a general, explainable nonlinear dimensionality reduction method.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Generative Electrolyte Solvent and Formulation Discovery

Molecular mixtures and/or formulations are of great importance in fields ranging from materials science to pharmaceuticals to chemistry. In batteries, electrolytes are complex molecular mixtures consisting of multiple salts and solvents and additives at different concentrations that dictate battery capacity, safety, and cycle life, among others. Unfortunately, due to the complex composition and infinite design space as well as the conflicting property requirements, electrolyte design is the rate-determining step in the design of next generation battery chemistries. In this work, we develop a transformer-based generative AI model − ElectrolyteGPT − capable of generating solvents and electrolyte formulations to satisfy a wide range of desired property requirements. First, we curate an electrolyte-relevant database and develop a new line notation for formulations. Then, we show that ElectrolyteGPT can generate solvents and formulations conditioned on a wide range of important electrolyte properties such as ionic conductivity, oxidative stability, Coulombic efficiency, viscosity, and more. Finally, we experimentally synthesize the generated solvents and fabricate the electrolyte formulations and show that they can meet the desired property requirements and enable longterm cycling in energy-dense anode-free lithium metal batteries. Our work showcases the ability of generative models to address challenges in molecular mixture design for next generation batteries.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗