IIN Frontiers in Nanotechnology Seminar Series – Benji Maruyama

Dr. Benji Maruyama

Materials and Manufacutring Directorate
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

Sponsored byNorthwestern University and the Air Force Center of Excellence 

Abstract

We have developed a first-of-its-kind Autonomous REsearch System (ARES) capable of designing, executing, and analyzing its own experiments autonomously. The closed loop, iterative method enables ARES to design new experiments based on prior results dynamically, after each experiment; a first for materials research.

We are applying this method to understand and control the synthesis of single wall carbon nanotubes, in this case optimizing growth rate in (7) – dimensional parameter space. We use automated in situ Raman spectroscopy characterization of growth rate for CVD synthesis of carbon nanotubes as a metric for a target objective used by our NMD-M3 artificial intelligence planner. NMD-M3 uses a random forest learning approach which models experimental results as a function of experimental inputs, and a genetic algorithm planner to propose new experiments expected to achieve the targeted growth rate.

We expect ARES to be a disruptive advance in the near future, combining advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, data sciences and in operando methods to enable us to attack high dimensional research problems that were previously intractable by current research processes. Already we are applying the ARES method to multiple problems, including Additive Manufacturing and defect engineering in graphene.

Biography

Dr. Benji Maruyama is a Senior Materials Research Engineer in the Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate. He leads research on the synthesis and processing science of carbon nanotubes. Dr. Maruyama created and is developing a new method research: Autonomous Research Systems for Materials Development. He is also the point of contact for carbon materials for the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. His background and interests include carbon nanomaterials, energy storage, field emission, carbon, polymer and metal matrix composites, imaging of complex 3D microstructures and combinatorial experimentation.  He is currently involved in the study of the origins of chiral growth for carbon nanotubes, nanostructured materials for battery electrodes, in-situ experimentation, and catalyst development.