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Microsoft AI discovers 18 new battery materials in two weeks...It needed just 80 hours to do something that would normally take years.
FreeThink ^ | January 17, 2024 | By Kristin Houser

Posted on 01/19/2024 1:05:22 PM PST by Red Badger

Using AI and cloud computing, Microsoft was able to identify promising new battery materials for the Department of Energy (DoE) — in a fraction of the time it would usually take.

The challenge: Batteries are an essential part of the clean energy future. We need them to power electric vehicles and to store energy from solar and wind.

Currently, lithium-ion batteries are our best option for both of these uses, but they aren’t ideal. Because lithium is relatively scarce, it’s also expensive, and the metal is often unethically mined using child labor and environmentally destructive processes.

Identifying better battery materials is a time-consuming process, though.

“It’s always trial and error,” Vijay Murugesan, head of the Material Sciences Group at the DoE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), told Fast Company.

“Something comes up in my dreams or the shower, and then I come in and spend two years testing whether it works or not, and then you go back and do that cycle again for a decade,” he continued. “The success rate is not that great, to be honest.”

What’s new? To speed up that process, PNNL teamed up with Microsoft.

Using a combination of AI models and cloud computing, the tech giant simulated potential chemical combinations for batteries, starting from a list of 32.6 million materials. Within just 80 hours, it had identified 18 promising candidates for new battery materials.

“Something that could have taken years, we did in two weeks,” Jason Zander, an executive VP at Microsoft, told Reuters.

Looking ahead: PNNL scientists have already synthesized one of the candidate battery materials for testing — if it performs well, it could enable production of batteries containing 70% less lithium.

They also expect Microsoft’s technology to lead to the discovery of far more than just new battery materials.

“That’s the part we’re most excited about … We just picked one problem,” said Zander. “There are thousands of problems to go solve, and it’s applicable to all of them.”

VIDEO AT LINK....................


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Military/Veterans; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: ai; battery; energy; fakenews; technology
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1 posted on 01/19/2024 1:05:22 PM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Doesn’t mean they are going to make a new and better battery.

Time well tell.


2 posted on 01/19/2024 1:07:22 PM PST by riverrunner
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To: Red Badger

Wow, someone wrote a program to simulate materials.

So amazing.

NOT!!!


3 posted on 01/19/2024 1:12:30 PM PST by Fledermaus (It's time to get rid of the Three McStooges; Mitch, Kevin and Ronna! 1 gone, 1 almost dead. )
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: Red Badger

I want AI to do drug regime recommendations for heart “failure”.


5 posted on 01/19/2024 1:13:59 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: riverrunner

It also doesn’t mean that the materials they found will work outside laboratory conditions. They may very well have found materials that will form a battery with the same work efficiency as gasoline, 12,000 watts per gallon. However, it might cost $150,000/battery to create.


6 posted on 01/19/2024 1:14:51 PM PST by Jonty30 (In a nuclear holocaust, there is always a point in time where the meat is cooked to perfection. )
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To: EEGator

Good AI is good, bad AI is bad.

QED


7 posted on 01/19/2024 1:14:55 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Red Badger

Good news AI only works 40 hour weeks!


8 posted on 01/19/2024 1:15:33 PM PST by mad_as_he$$
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To: EEGator

No, but you can always ask ChatGp to write you one!.......


9 posted on 01/19/2024 1:17:36 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

So Skynet is now producing its own power sources. Marvelous. /s


10 posted on 01/19/2024 1:18:11 PM PST by alancarp (George Orwell was an optimist.)
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To: Red Badger

hey Jason Zander whats up ? long time no see. Say hi to Scott Guthrie and Alex Chi for me


11 posted on 01/19/2024 1:19:49 PM PST by algore
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To: Red Badger

Did it also test the material in a real world lab or an AI lab ?


12 posted on 01/19/2024 1:20:48 PM PST by butlerweave
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To: Red Badger

So why don’t they ask for zero energy production and peer reviewed papers.


13 posted on 01/19/2024 1:21:12 PM PST by mountainlion (Live well those that did not make it back.)
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To: EEGator

I’m researching the nano-tech material graphene for a company. It isn’t just the graphene, but resins and inorganic binders. So I’ve used AI a fair amount.

From my experience it can do wonders, if you think of it as a research ASSISTANT. But it makes mistakes all over the place. It is good for first pass chemistry, but you need to know what you are doing.


14 posted on 01/19/2024 1:21:49 PM PST by DaxtonBrown (away.)
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To: Paladin2

I want AI to do drug regime recommendations for heart “failure”.

________________________________________

Hell I could do that. First off - avoid all covid vaccines.


15 posted on 01/19/2024 1:21:52 PM PST by Responsibility2nd (A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent ~ Wm. Blake)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: Red Badger

Now do Cold Fusion.


17 posted on 01/19/2024 1:26:08 PM PST by Mr. Mohasky (Common sense in a world lacking any, will be perceived & construed as an extreme point of view.)
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

"..if it performs well, it could..

The author managed to get the two words that kill the entire hopium in just six words, nice work.

20 posted on 01/19/2024 1:34:17 PM PST by Henchster (Free Republic - the BEST site on the web!)
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