14 Examples of How LLMs Can Transform Materials Science and Chemistry: A Reflection on a Large Language Model Hackathon
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Abstract (arXiv)
Large-language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 caught the interest of many scientists. Recent studies suggested that these models could be useful in chemistry and materials science. To explore these possibilities, we organized a hackathon. This article chronicles the projects built as part of this hackathon. Participants employed LLMs for various applications, including predicting properties of molecules and materials, designing novel interfaces for tools, extracting knowledge from unstructured data, and developing new educational applications. The diverse topics and the fact that working prototypes could be generated in less than two days highlight that LLMs will profoundly impact the future of our fields. The rich collection of ideas and projects also indicates that the applications of LLMs are not limited to materials science and chemistry but offer potential benefits to a wide range of scientific disciplines.
Key facts. Cited by 86 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 42 of its 158 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 Jun 2023.
Builds on
42 of 158 references.
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30 more
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 9; 2024: 28; 2025: 33; 2026: 16.
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- 2026Discovery of Interpretable Physical Laws in Materials via Language-Model-Guided Symbolic Regression26 Feb 2026
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- 2025MatLLMSearch: Crystal Structure Discovery with Evolution-Guided Large Language Models28 Feb 2025
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50 newest of 86 All 86 (JSON)
- 2025Towards Scientific Intelligence: A Survey of LLM-based Scientific Agentscited by 98
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- 2024Minstrel: Structural Prompt Generation with Multi-Agents Coordination for Non-AI Expertscited by 4
- 2025GENIUS: An Agentic AI Framework for Autonomous Design and Execution of Simulation Protocolscited by 4
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- 2026A Multi-AI-agent Framework Enabling End-to-end Finite Element Analysis for Solid Mechanics Problemscited by 1
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- 2026Agentic Resource Allocation for Batch Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization in Autonomous Materials Discovery2 Oct 2026
- 2026MLIPilot: LLM-Driven Auto-Research for Machine-Learned Interatomic Potentials29 May 2026
- 2026A Multi-AI-agent Framework Enabling End-to-end Finite Element Analysis for Solid Mechanics Problems28 May 2026
- 2026Reasoning-Driven Design of Single Atom Catalysts via a Multi-Agent Large Language Model Framework25 Feb 2026
- 2025AGAPI-Agents: An Open-Access Agentic AI Platform for Accelerated Materials Design on AtomGPT.org12 Dec 2025
- 2025GENIUS: An Agentic AI Framework for Autonomous Design and Execution of Simulation Protocols6 Dec 2025
- 2025Zephyrus: An Agentic Framework for Weather Science5 Oct 2025
- 2025Towards Scientific Intelligence: A Survey of LLM-based Scientific Agents31 Mar 2025
- 2024Minstrel: Structural Prompt Generation with Multi-Agents Coordination for Non-AI Experts20 Sep 2024
- 2024HoneyComb: A Flexible LLM-Based Agent System for Materials Science29 Aug 2024
- 2024AtomAgents: Alloy design and discovery through physics-aware multi-modal multi-agent artificial intelligence13 Jul 2024
- 2025MatSciBench: Benchmarking the Reasoning Ability of Large Language Models in Materials Sciencecited by 15
- 2025Bridging AI and Carbon Capture: A Dataset for LLMs in Ionic Liquids and CBE Researchcited by 0
- 2025Language-Native Materials Processing Design by Lightly Structured Text Database and Reasoning Large Language Modelcited by 0
- 2026SCALAR: Quantifying Structural Hallucination, Consistency, and Reasoning Gaps in Materials Foundation Modelscited by 0
- 2026SCALAR: Quantifying Structural Hallucination, Consistency, and Reasoning Gaps in Materials Foundation Models29 Jan 2026
- 2025MatSciBench: Benchmarking the Reasoning Ability of Large Language Models in Materials Science14 Oct 2025
- 2025Language-Native Materials Processing Design by Lightly Structured Text Database and Reasoning Large Language Model7 Sep 2025
- 2025Bridging AI and Carbon Capture: A Dataset for LLMs in Ionic Liquids and CBE Research11 May 2025
- 2024SciFIBench: Benchmarking Large Multimodal Models for Scientific Figure Interpretationcited by 48
- 2024Probing the limitations of multimodal language models for chemistry and materials researchcited by 32
- 2024Multimodal Large Language Models for Inverse Molecular Design with Retrosynthetic Planningcited by 29
- 2024Probing the limitations of multimodal language models for chemistry and materials research25 Nov 2024
- 2024Multimodal Large Language Models for Inverse Molecular Design with Retrosynthetic Planning5 Oct 2024
- 2024SciFIBench: Benchmarking Large Multimodal Models for Scientific Figure Interpretation14 May 2024
- 2024Instruction Backdoor Attacks Against Customized LLMscited by 62
- 2024Instruction Backdoor Attacks Against Customized LLMs14 Feb 2024
- 2024Evolutionary Computation in the Era of Large Language Model: Survey and Roadmapcited by 90
- 2024A Sober Look at LLMs for Material Discovery: Are They Actually Good for Bayesian Optimization Over Molecules?cited by 48
- 2024Are LLMs Ready for Real-World Materials Discovery?cited by 40
- 2024Are large language models superhuman chemists?cited by 34
- 2024Materials science in the era of large language models: a perspectivecited by 24
- 2025MDCrow: Automating Molecular Dynamics Workflows with Large Language Modelscited by 22
- 2024ChatGPT as Research Scientist: Probing GPT's Capabilities as a Research Librarian, Research Ethicist, Data Generator and Data Predictorcited by 21
- 2024When Large Language Models Meet Evolutionary Algorithms: Potential Enhancements and Challengescited by 20
- 2023ChatMOF: An Autonomous AI System for Predicting and Generating Metal-Organic Frameworkscited by 17
- 2024Leveraging Biomolecule and Natural Language through Multi-Modal Learning: A Surveycited by 17
- 2024Large Language Models as Software Components: A Taxonomy for LLM-Integrated Applicationscited by 17
- 2024ChIRAAG: ChatGPT Informed Rapid and Automated Assertion Generationcited by 16
12 most cited of 65 All 65 (JSON)
- 2026Strategy-first synthesis planning for complex natural products7 Aug 2026
- 2026A Multi-Agent Framework for Automated Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics of Polymers7 Aug 2026
- 2026AdsMind: A Physics-Grounded Multi-Agent System for Self-Correcting Discovery of Adsorption Configurations on Heterogeneous Catalyst Surfaces17 Jun 2026
- 2026Beyond the Desk: Barriers and Future Opportunities for AI to Assist Scientists in Embodied Physical Tasks19 Mar 2026
- 2026Proof-Carrying Materials: Falsifiable Safety Certificates for Machine-Learned Interatomic Potentials12 Mar 2026
- 2026From Phase Prediction to Phase Design: A ReAct Agent Framework for High-Entropy Alloy Discovery10 Mar 2026
- 2026Probing Materials Knowledge in LLMs: From Latent Embeddings to Reliable Predictions2 Mar 2026
- 2026Discovery of Interpretable Physical Laws in Materials via Language-Model-Guided Symbolic Regression26 Feb 2026
- 2026Sustainable Materials Discovery in the Era of Artificial Intelligence29 Jan 2026
- 2026ChemNavigator: Agentic AI Discovery of Design Rules for Organic Photocatalysts23 Jan 2026
- 2026MDAgent2: Large Language Model for Code Generation and Knowledge Q&A in Molecular Dynamics5 Jan 2026
- 2025Informing Acquisition Functions via Foundation Models for Molecular Discovery15 Dec 2025
12 newest of 65 All 65 (JSON)