arXiv subjects

Jack D. Evans

Publications and source records attributed to Jack D. Evans.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Benchmarking Universal Machine-Learned Interatomic Potentials for High-Temperature Metal-Organic Framework Chemistry

Universal machine-learned interatomic potentials (uMLIPs) offer a promising approach to performing atomistic simulations at near-DFT accuracy with greatly reduced computational cost. Here, we present a new high-temperature benchmarking dataset of 40~ps ab~initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) trajectories simulated at 300, 1000, and 2000 K for nine zinc- and zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs): ZIF-8, CALF-20, MOF-10, MOF-5, MIP-206, UiO-66, UiO-67, UiO-66-NH2, and NU-1000. These trajectories capture equilibrium dynamics, thermally induced distortions, and early-stage decomposition events, including linker degradation and metal node aggregation. Subsequently, we use this dataset to benchmark five leading uMLIPs: ORB-v3, MACE-MP-0a, MACE-MPA-0, fairchem ODAC23, and fairchem OMAT. Our results reveal that ORB-v3 and fairchem OMAT achieve the lowest energy, force, and stress errors across all temperatures. However, all models exhibit significant error under high-temperature conditions. Long-timescale molecular dynamics simulations produced with ORB-v3 demonstrate that the generative error of uMLIPs far exceeds model losses captured during static validation, highlighting the limitations of current universal models for simulating high-temperature MOF dynamics. This work provides a benchmark for assessing the robustness of uMLIPs in extreme regimes and guides future development of potentials capable of accurately modeling the chemistry of high-temperature MOF dynamics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

QUASAR: A Universal Autonomous System for Atomistic Simulation and a Benchmark of Its Capabilities

The integration of large language models (LLMs) into materials science offers a transformative opportunity to streamline computational workflows, yet current agentic systems remain constrained by rigid, carefully crafted domain-specific tool-calling paradigms and narrowly scoped agents. In this work, we introduce QUASAR, a universal autonomous system for atomistic simulation designed to facilitate production-grade scientific discovery. QUASAR autonomously orchestrates complex multi-scale workflows across diverse methods, including density functional theory, machine learning potentials, molecular dynamics, and Monte Carlo simulations. The system incorporates robust mechanisms for adaptive planning, context-efficient memory management, and hybrid knowledge retrieval to navigate real-world research scenarios without human intervention. We benchmark QUASAR against a series of three-tiered tasks, progressing from routine tasks to frontier research challenges such as photocatalyst screening and novel material assessment. These results suggest that QUASAR can function as a general atomistic reasoning system rather than a task-specific automation framework. They also provide initial evidence supporting the potential deployment of agentic AI as a component of computational chemistry research workflows, while identifying areas requiring further development.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

MLIP-MC: A Framework for Adsorption Simulations using Machine-Learned Interatomic Potentials

Grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations are essential for screening metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for gas adsorption, yet their accuracy is limited by underlying interatomic potentials. Universal machine-learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs), trained on diverse chemical datasets, promise zero-shot prediction without system-specific training. We introduce MLIP-MC, an open-source Python framework to conduct GCMC simulations with MLIPs, and use this framework to benchmark a series of universal models, including MACE-MP-0, ORB-v3, and fairchem ODAC, for CO2 adsorption on ZIF-8, ZIF-4, and Mg-MOF-74. All universal models exhibit systematic biases, consistently over- or underestimating adsorption energetics. Crucially, accuracy depends on training data composition: only models trained on MOF-adsorbate interactions achieve reasonable agreement with a density functional theory derived reference. Errors grow linearly with CO2 uptake, reflecting compounding inaccuracies in adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. Our results demonstrate that current universal MLIPs require finetuning for quantitative adsorption predictions and demonstrate the power of MLIP-MC to rapidly test models.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Simulations of High Temperature Decomposition of Metal-Organic Frameworks to form Amorphous Catalysts

Metal-organic framework (MOF) derived materials formed through high temperature processes show great potential as catalysts. However, understanding of structure-property relationships between the initial MOF and the resulting MOF-derived catalyst is limited because the amorphous nature of the catalyst challenges standard structural characterization methods. Neural network approaches that learn interatomic potentials from density functional theory offer a promising solution. We simulated the pyrolysis of UiO-66, UiO-67 and MIP-206 using both foundational and fine-tuned machine learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs). To mimic experimental conditions, an atmosphere of CO2 and H2 was introduced and the structures were doped with 20 wt% copper to probe the effect of copper on the structural evolution of MOFs. These simulations provide atomistic insights into gas evolution, metal nanoparticle formation, and linker decomposition that were compared to available experimental data. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential of MLIPs to accurately model high temperature MOF dynamics under experimentally relevant conditions and guide the design of new catalytic materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Evaluating Mechanical Property Prediction across Material Classes using Molecular Dynamics Simulations with Universal Machine-Learned Interatomic Potentials

We assess the accuracy of six universal machine-learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs) for predicting the temperature and pressure response of materials by molecular dynamics simulations. Accuracy is evaluated across 13 diverse materials (nine metal-organic frameworks and four inorganic compounds), computing bulk modulus, thermal expansion, and thermal decomposition. These MLIPs employ three different architectures (graph neural networks, graph network simulators, and graph transformers) with varying training datasets. We observe qualitative accuracy across these predictions but systematic underestimation of bulk modulus and overestimation of thermal expansion across all models, consistent with potential energy surface softening. From all tested models, three top performers arise; `MACE-MP-0a', `fairchem_OMAT', and `Orb-v3', with average error across metrics and materials of 41%, 44%, and 47%, respectively. Despite strong overall performance, questions arise about the limits of model transferability: dataset homogeneity and structural representation dominate model accuracy. Our results show that certain architectures can compensate for biases, a step closer to truly universal MLIPs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Large language models in materials science and the need for open-source approaches

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly transforming materials science. This review examines recent LLM applications across the materials discovery pipeline, focusing on three key areas: mining scientific literature , predictive modelling, and multi-agent experimental systems. We highlight how LLMs extract valuable information such as synthesis conditions from text, learn structure-property relationships, and can coordinate agentic systems integrating computational tools and laboratory automation. While progress has been largely dependent on closed-source commercial models, our benchmark results demonstrate that open-source alternatives can match performance while offering greater transparency, reproducibility, cost-effectiveness, and data privacy. As open-source models continue to improve, we advocate their broader adoption to build accessible, flexible, and community-driven AI platforms for scientific discovery.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2019

Metal-Organic Frameworks in Germany: from Synthesis to Function

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are constructed from a combination of inorganic and organic units to produce materials which display high porosity, among other unique and exciting properties. MOFs have shown promise in many wide-ranging applications, such as catalysis and gas separations. In this review, we highlight MOF research conducted by Germany-based research groups. Specifically, we feature approaches for the synthesis of new MOFs, high-throughput MOF production, advanced characterization methods and examples of advanced functions and properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗