UConn is one of several research institutions participating in the Toyota Research Institute’s (TRI) $35 million initiative to accelerate design and discovery of advanced materials for use in zero-emissions and carbon-neutral vehicles.
TRI’s four-year initiative supports developing new advanced battery materials and fuel cell catalysts using artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to power energy efficient vehicles, said TRI Chief Science Officer Eric Krotkov.
UConn materials scientist Ramamurthy “Rampi” Ramprasad is leading the effort at UConn. Ramprasad’s lab will work to identify new polymers using quantum mechanical computations and data-driven machine learning.
Because of their flexible chemical compositions, polymers can be used as insulators, semiconductors, and permeable membranes. They also are safe, inexpensive to produce, and light, and have potential for broader use in energy storage applications such as rechargeable batteries and fuel cells.
Other institutions participating in the initiative include Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, and the University at Buffalo. The U.K.-based materials science company Ilika is also a research partner, and there may be others, TRI said.
