Evaluation of Foundational Machine Learned Interatomic Potentials for Migration Barrier Predictions

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Main Authors: Bheemaguli, Achinthya Krishna, Xiao, Penghao, Gautam, Gopalakrishnan Sai
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Bheemaguli, Achinthya Krishna
Xiao, Penghao
Gautam, Gopalakrishnan Sai
author_facet Bheemaguli, Achinthya Krishna
Xiao, Penghao
Gautam, Gopalakrishnan Sai
contents Fast, and accurate prediction of ionic migration barriers ($E_m$) is crucial for designing next-generation battery materials that combine high energy density with facile ion transport. Given the computational costs associated with estimating $E_m$ using conventional density functional theory (DFT) based nudged elastic band (NEB) calculations, we benchmark the accuracy in $E_m$ and geometry predictions of five foundational machine learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs), which can potentially accelerate predictions of ionic transport. Specifically, we assess the accuracy of MACE-MP-0, Orb-v3, SevenNet, CHGNet, and M3GNet models, coupled with the NEB framework, against DFT-NEB-calculated $E_m$ across a diverse set of battery-relevant chemistries and structures. Notably, MACE-MP-0 and Orb-v3 exhibit the lowest mean absolute errors in $E_m$ predictions across the entire dataset and over data points that are not outliers, respectively. Importantly, Orb-v3 and SevenNet classify `good' versus `bad' ionic conductors with an accuracy of $>$82\%, based on a threshold $E_m$ of 500~meV, indicating their utility in high-throughput screening approaches. Notably, intermediate images generated by MACE-MP-0 and SevenNet provide better initial guesses relative to conventional interpolation techniques in $>$71\% of structures, offering a practical route to accelerate subsequent DFT-NEB relaxations. Finally, we observe that accurate $E_m$ predictions by MLIPs are not correlated with accurate (local) geometry predictions. Our work establishes the use-cases, accuracies, and limitations of foundational MLIPs in estimating $E_m$ and should serve as a base for accelerating the discovery of novel ionic conductors for batteries and beyond.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_03642
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evaluation of Foundational Machine Learned Interatomic Potentials for Migration Barrier Predictions
Bheemaguli, Achinthya Krishna
Xiao, Penghao
Gautam, Gopalakrishnan Sai
Materials Science
Fast, and accurate prediction of ionic migration barriers ($E_m$) is crucial for designing next-generation battery materials that combine high energy density with facile ion transport. Given the computational costs associated with estimating $E_m$ using conventional density functional theory (DFT) based nudged elastic band (NEB) calculations, we benchmark the accuracy in $E_m$ and geometry predictions of five foundational machine learned interatomic potentials (MLIPs), which can potentially accelerate predictions of ionic transport. Specifically, we assess the accuracy of MACE-MP-0, Orb-v3, SevenNet, CHGNet, and M3GNet models, coupled with the NEB framework, against DFT-NEB-calculated $E_m$ across a diverse set of battery-relevant chemistries and structures. Notably, MACE-MP-0 and Orb-v3 exhibit the lowest mean absolute errors in $E_m$ predictions across the entire dataset and over data points that are not outliers, respectively. Importantly, Orb-v3 and SevenNet classify `good' versus `bad' ionic conductors with an accuracy of $>$82\%, based on a threshold $E_m$ of 500~meV, indicating their utility in high-throughput screening approaches. Notably, intermediate images generated by MACE-MP-0 and SevenNet provide better initial guesses relative to conventional interpolation techniques in $>$71\% of structures, offering a practical route to accelerate subsequent DFT-NEB relaxations. Finally, we observe that accurate $E_m$ predictions by MLIPs are not correlated with accurate (local) geometry predictions. Our work establishes the use-cases, accuracies, and limitations of foundational MLIPs in estimating $E_m$ and should serve as a base for accelerating the discovery of novel ionic conductors for batteries and beyond.
title Evaluation of Foundational Machine Learned Interatomic Potentials for Migration Barrier Predictions
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.03642