Citrine Informatics CEO Greg Mulholland evaluates whether clean energy transition targets can be met without AI-accelerated materials discovery.
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Mulholland: Room-temperature superconductors will require new physics
“My prediction is that it will require at least a variant on known physics, if not entirely new physics, to make happen, just because that's sort of the nature of those massive breakthroughs, especially, I mean, room temperature superconductor is, A guaranteed …”
Assertion Supported
Mulholland: China pushes LFP batteries while US relies on high-risk cobalt chemistries
“In China, there's a big push for lithium iron phosphate. In the U.S., we have, you know, sort of standard lithium ion batteries that have a lot of nickel, manganese, and cobalt in the materials, and those things are hard to source, and rising in cost, and some…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Mulholland: High lab experiment costs prevent large data volumes in materials
“One of the things that we don't have in the materials industry is huge volumes of data because everything costs money, right? You know, there is no free experiment.”
Insight
Mulholland: Scientific AI gains most value from unpublished negative experiment results
“Unfortunately, from a scientific standpoint, the most valuable thing to AI is the two examples. But you know that those scientists did not just do two experiments. You know that those scientists did months and months and months of work and refinement and faile…”
Insight
Optimal battery performance requires co-optimizing cathode, anode, and electrolyte
“There is no best cathode. There is no best anode. There is no best electrolyte. You need to build the system that they are all compatible with each other to make the best battery.”
Opinion
Mulholland: Materials industry lags pharma by 5-7 years in tech adoption
“It also means that the chemicals and materials industry tends to be maybe five or seven years behind the pharmaceutical industry and its adoption of new technologies.”