Deep Learning Method to Accelerate Discovery of Hybrid Polymer-Graphene Composites

Interfacial encoded properties of polymer adlayers adsorbed on the graphene (GE) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) have been constituted a scaffold for the creation of new materials. The holistic understanding of nanoscale intermolecular interaction of 1D/2D polymer assemblies on substrate is the key to bottom-up design of molecular devices. We develop an integrated multidisciplinary approach based on electronic structure computation [density functional theory (DFT)] and big data mining [machine learning (ML)] in parallel with neural network (NN) and statistical analysis (SA) to design hybrid polymers from assembly on substrate. Here we demonstrate that interfacial pressure and structural deformation of polymer network adsorbed on GE and SiO2 offer unique directions for the fabrication of 1D/2D polymers using only a small number of simple molecular building blocks. Our findings serve as the platform for designing a wide range of typical inorganic heterostructures, involving noncovalent intermolecular interaction observed in many nanoscale electronic devices.

Automated summary

The interfacial encoded properties of polymer adlayers adsorbed on surfaces like graphene and silicon dioxide serve as a scaffold for creating new materials and designing molecular devices. By combining electronic structure computation and big data mining, hybrid polymers can be designed based on assembly on substrate, offering unique directions for the fabrication of 1D/2D polymers using only a small number of simple molecular building blocks.