Toyota Research Institute and Northwestern Join Forces to Accelerate the Discovery of Materials that Will Drive the Clean Energy Transition

LOS ALTOS, Calif. and CHICAGO (Aug. 17, 2022) – Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Northwestern University today announce their collaboration to help accelerate new materials discovery, design and development with the world’s first nanomaterial “data factory.” This AI-driven methodology goes far beyond the traditional trial and error by exploring vast parameter sets, collecting data and then empowering AI to search the materials genome to find the best materials for a given application. While the first application of the data factory will be used to discover new catalysts to make fuel cell vehicles more efficient, TRI and Northwestern believe this method of materials discovery will have wide-ranging applications in the future such as clean hydrogen production, CO2 removal from air and high-efficiency solar cells.