DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Combining artificial intelligence and physics-based modeling to directly assess atomic site stabilities: from sub-nanometer clusters to extended surfaces

Journal Article · · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp02198b · OSTI ID:1873378

The performance of functional materials is dictated by chemical and structural properties of individual atomic sites. In catalysts, for instance, the thermodynamic stability of constituting atomic sites is a key descriptor from which more complex properties, such as molecular adsorption energies and reaction rates, can be derived. In this study, we present a widely applicable machine learning (ML) approach to instantaneously compute the stability of individual atomic sites in structurally and electronically complex nano-materials. Conventionally, we determine such site stabilities using computationally intensive first-principles calculations. With our approach, we predict the stability of atomic sites in sub-nanometer metal clusters of 3–55 atoms with mean absolute errors in the range of 0.11–0.14 eV. To extract physical insights from the ML model, we introduce a genetic algorithm (GA) for feature selection. This algorithm distills the key structural and chemical properties governing the stability of atomic sites in size-selected nanoparticles, allowing for physical interpretability of the models and revealing structure–property relationships. The results of the GA are generally model and materials specific. In the limit of large nanoparticles, the GA identifies features consistent with physics-based models for metal–metal interactions. By combining the ML model with the physics-based model, we predict atomic site stabilities in real time for structures ranging from sub-nanometer metal clusters (3–55 atom) to larger nanoparticles (147 to 309 atoms) to extended surfaces using a physically interpretable framework. Finally, we present a proof of principle showcasing how our approach can determine stable and active nanocatalysts across a generic materials space of structure and composition.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1873378
Journal Information:
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP, Journal Name: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP Journal Issue: 38 Vol. 23; ISSN 1463-9076
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (80)

Minimalist Active-Site Redesign: Teaching Old Enzymes New Tricks journal April 2007
Fast Prediction of Adsorption Properties for Platinum Nanocatalysts with Generalized Coordination Numbers journal June 2014
Structure-Sensitive Scaling Relations: Adsorption Energies from Surface Site Stability journal March 2018
Machine Learning for Computational Heterogeneous Catalysis journal June 2019
Trends in Oxygen Electrocatalysis of 3 d ‐Layered (Oxy)(Hydro)Oxides journal June 2019
Universality in Heterogeneous Catalysis journal July 2002
Finite Size Effects in Chemical Bonding: From Small Clusters to Solids journal June 2011
Potential energy surfaces for macromolecules. A neural network technique journal May 1992
Stability effects of AunXm+ (X=Cu, Al, Y, In) clusters journal December 1999
Biological surface science journal March 2002
Feature engineering of machine-learning chemisorption models for catalyst design journal February 2017
Organic chemistry on solid surfaces journal July 2006
Ensemble-Average Representation of Pt Clusters in Conditions of Catalysis Accessed through GPU Accelerated Deep Neural Network Fitting Global Optimization journal November 2016
Resolving Transition Metal Chemical Space: Feature Selection for Machine Learning and Structure–Property Relationships journal November 2017
Graph Theory Approach to High-Throughput Surface Adsorption Structure Generation journal February 2019
Adsorption and Activation of Water on Cuboctahedral Rhodium and Platinum Nanoparticles journal February 2017
Adsorption of CO on Low-Energy, Low-Symmetry Pt Nanoparticles: Energy Decomposition Analysis and Prediction via Machine-Learning Models journal March 2017
Configurational Energies of Nanoparticles Based on Metal–Metal Coordination journal October 2017
Extrapolating Energetics on Clusters and Single-Crystal Surfaces to Nanoparticles by Machine-Learning Scheme journal November 2017
Comparison of Sintering by Particle Migration and Ripening through First-Principles-Based Simulations journal November 2018
Machine-Learning-Augmented Chemisorption Model for CO 2 Electroreduction Catalyst Screening journal August 2015
Predicting Catalytic Activity of Nanoparticles by a DFT-Aided Machine-Learning Algorithm journal August 2017
Predicting Adsorption Properties of Catalytic Descriptors on Bimetallic Nanoalloys with Site-Specific Precision journal March 2019
Convolutional Neural Network of Atomic Surface Structures To Predict Binding Energies for High-Throughput Screening of Catalysts journal July 2019
Predicting a Key Catalyst-Performance Descriptor for Supported Metal Nanoparticles: Metal Chemical Potential journal June 2021
Selectivity of Synthesis Gas Conversion to C 2+ Oxygenates on fcc(111) Transition-Metal Surfaces journal March 2018
Beyond Scaling Relations for the Description of Catalytic Materials journal February 2019
Machine Learning Accelerates the Discovery of Design Rules and Exceptions in Stable Metal–Oxo Intermediate Formation journal July 2019
Parallelized Screening of Characterized and DFT-Modeled Bimetallic Colloidal Cocatalysts for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution journal March 2020
Rational Design: A High-Throughput Computational Screening and Experimental Validation Methodology for Lead-Free and Emergent Hybrid Perovskites journal March 2017
The Energetics of Supported Metal Nanoparticles: Relationships to Sintering Rates and Catalytic Activity journal April 2013
Estimating Bulk-Composition-Dependent H 2 Adsorption Energies on Cu x Pd 1– x Alloy (111) Surfaces journal January 2015
Search for the Li n 0/+1/-1 ( n = 5−7) Lowest-Energy Structures Using the ab Initio Gradient Embedded Genetic Algorithm (GEGA). Elucidation of the Chemical Bonding in the Lithium Clusters journal May 2005
Metastable Structures in Cluster Catalysis from First-Principles: Structural Ensemble in Reaction Conditions and Metastability Triggered Reactivity journal February 2018
H·(H 2 O) n Clusters: Microsolvation of the Hydrogen Atom via Molecular ab Initio Gradient Embedded Genetic Algorithm (GEGA) journal December 2010
Catalytic Activity of Pd/Cu Random Alloy Nanoparticles for Oxygen Reduction journal May 2011
Investigation of Catalytic Finite-Size-Effects of Platinum Metal Clusters journal December 2012
Quantum-size effects in the thermodynamic properties of metallic nanoparticles journal December 1996
Discovery of a Ni-Ga catalyst for carbon dioxide reduction to methanol journal March 2014
Introducing structural sensitivity into adsorption–energy scaling relations by means of coordination numbers journal April 2015
To address surface reaction network complexity using scaling relations machine learning and DFT calculations journal March 2017
The high-throughput highway to computational materials design journal February 2013
Double-slit photoelectron interference in strong-field ionization of the neon dimer journal January 2019
A high-throughput framework for determining adsorption energies on solid surfaces journal March 2017
Machine learning hydrogen adsorption on nanoclusters through structural descriptors journal July 2018
Optimization of the facet structure of transition-metal catalysts applied to the oxygen reduction reaction journal April 2019
Active learning across intermetallics to guide discovery of electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction and H2 evolution journal September 2018
Predicting electronic structure properties of transition metal complexes with neural networks journal January 2017
High-throughput screening of bimetallic catalysts enabled by machine learning journal January 2017
Machine learning meets volcano plots: computational discovery of cross-coupling catalysts journal January 2018
A coordination-based model for transition metal alloy nanoparticles journal January 2019
The nature of the active site in heterogeneous metal catalysis journal January 2008
Universal transition state scaling relations for (de)hydrogenation over transition metals journal January 2011
Anchored metal nanoparticles: Effects of support and size on their energy, sintering resistance and reactivity journal January 2013
Further considerations on the thermodynamics of chemical equilibria and reaction rates journal January 1936
Metal nanoparticles as models of single crystal surfaces and supported catalysts: Density functional study of size effects for CO/Pd(111) journal December 2002
A genetic algorithm for first principles global structure optimization of supported nano structures journal July 2014
Escaping scaling relationships for water dissociation at interfacial sites of zirconia-supported Rh and Pt clusters journal October 2019
Predicting metal–metal interactions. I. The influence of strain on nanoparticle and metal adlayer stabilities journal March 2020
Predicting metal–metal interactions. II. Accelerating generalized schemes through physical insights journal March 2020
Molecular electronics: Some views on transport junctions and beyond journal June 2005
Nearsightedness of electronic matter journal August 2005
Special points for Brillouin-zone integrations journal June 1976
Soft self-consistent pseudopotentials in a generalized eigenvalue formalism journal April 1990
Band theory and Mott insulators: Hubbard U instead of Stoner I journal July 1991
Dipole correction for surface supercell calculations journal May 1999
Improved adsorption energetics within density-functional theory using revised Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof functionals journal March 1999
Intrinsic point defects and complexes in the quaternary kesterite semiconductor Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 journal June 2010
Density functionals for surface science: Exchange-correlation model development with Bayesian error estimation journal June 2012
On representing chemical environments journal May 2013
Effects of d -band shape on the surface reactivity of transition-metal alloys journal March 2014
Including crystal structure attributes in machine learning models of formation energies via Voronoi tessellations journal July 2017
Orbitalwise Coordination Number for Predicting Adsorption Properties of Metal Nanocatalysts journal January 2017
CO Chemisorption at Metal Surfaces and Overlayers journal March 1996
Role of Steps in N 2 Activation on Ru(0001) journal August 1999
Scaling Properties of Adsorption Energies for Hydrogen-Containing Molecules on Transition-Metal Surfaces journal July 2007
Unfolding adsorption on metal nanoparticles: Connecting stability with catalysis journal September 2019
Finding optimal surface sites on heterogeneous catalysts by counting nearest neighbors journal October 2015
XGBoost: A Scalable Tree Boosting System conference January 2016
Die katalytische Zersetzung des Nitramids und ihre physikalisch-chemische Bedeutung journal January 1924