Toyota’s ambitions to lead the market for the most advanced technology have no limits. The Japanese brand, through its Research Institute and in collaboration with renowned North American experts, are studying artificial intelligence as a means to search for special materials for batteries and fuel cells.
Toyota is one of the market leaders in the development of the most advanced technology. The Japanese manufacturer has numerous fronts open, both for research into new, more efficient and stable chemicals for the batteries of its future electric cars, as well as for fuel cellsone more application that hydrogen offers.
Now, the Toyota Research Institute has entered into an exciting collaboration with scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago to co-create new materials that will accelerate decarbonization. The objective is to use an algorithm that, with the help of artificial intelligence, will make it possible to discover new materials and their technologies in the mega-library of inorganic substances of this great North American university. The advanced algorithm has the important advantage that it is able to search for different nanomaterials, according to a multitude of criteria.
New materials for batteries and fuel cells, the latest from Toyota
Scientists can point to a number of chemical or physical properties, the ideal ones for a cathode or anode of a battery, to give a couple of examples, and artificial intelligence will be in charge of selecting and offering the most suitable ones that meet the requirements to the expert researchers. A team of extreme precision with which they will be able to discard those that are not considered suitable for a particular system or component.
At first glance it may seem that it is a simple system, but in reality it is one of the most advanced tools developed to date, since currently the selection of these nanomaterials is a very slow process that incurs the method of trial and error. In fact, one of the first nanomaterials being searched for with this tool is a catalyst for the propulsion of fuel cells. The Japanese are looking for a material that is cheap to produce and obtainwhich is not related to platinum or iridium, whose availability in the world is not very abundant.
The next step they contemplate is the study of the production of pure hydrogen, the removal of CO2 from the air and the development of more efficient solar cells. The Toyota Research Institute has experts in autonomous driving, robotics, artificial intelligence, clean energy and new materials, considering that “quickly and objectively selecting the optimal materials for specific applications will allow faster progress towards emission-free transport, thanks to new, more efficient materials.”