Nobel laureate Novoselov shares in Shanghai: using AI to reverse-engineer material synthesis parameters
Nobel Prize laureate in Physics Konstantin Novoselov shared his insights on using AI to design materials at the 2026 World Laureates Forum · Future Energy Conference, advocating for incorporating the synthesis stage into the research process—monitoring intermediate products, modeling reactions, and then using AI to reverse-engineer the synthesis parameters required for target materials. He pointed out that the old paradigm only correlates structure and performance, while neglecting whether a material can actually be synthesized.
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At the 2026 World Laureates Forum · Future Energy Conference held today, Nobel Prize laureate in Physics and Director of the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials at the National University of Singapore Konstantin Novoselov shared his insights on using AI to design materials. He pointed out that the old scientific research paradigm only correlates structure with performance, while neglecting whether a material can be synthesized; synthesis should be incorporated into the process, monitoring intermediate products, modeling reactions, and using AI to work backward to the synthesis parameters required for the target material. "Then, I hope you feed all this data to AI, so that AI can predict: which type of synthesis parameters should be chosen to obtain that kind of material with specific properties."