Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vangara, Sreya, Nanda, Jagjit, Tzeng, Yan-Kai, Darve, Eric
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.09036
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866911374758641664
author Vangara, Sreya
Nanda, Jagjit
Tzeng, Yan-Kai
Darve, Eric
author_facet Vangara, Sreya
Nanda, Jagjit
Tzeng, Yan-Kai
Darve, Eric
contents Scientific reasoning increasingly requires linking structured experimental data with the unstructured literature that explains it, yet most large language model (LLM) assistants cannot reason jointly across these modalities. We introduce SpectraQuery, a hybrid natural-language query framework that integrates a relational Raman spectroscopy database with a vector-indexed scientific literature corpus using a Structured and Unstructured Query Language (SUQL)-inspired design. By combining semantic parsing with retrieval-augmented generation, SpectraQuery translates open-ended questions into coordinated SQL and literature retrieval operations, producing cited answers that unify numerical evidence with mechanistic explanation. Across SQL correctness, answer groundedness, retrieval effectiveness, and expert evaluation, SpectraQuery demonstrates strong performance: approximately 80 percent of generated SQL queries are fully correct, synthesized answers reach 93-97 percent groundedness with 10-15 retrieved passages, and battery scientists rate responses highly across accuracy, relevance, grounding, and clarity (4.1-4.6/5). These results show that hybrid retrieval architectures can meaningfully support scientific workflows by bridging data and discourse for high-volume experimental datasets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_09036
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SpectraQuery: A Hybrid Retrieval-Augmented Conversational Assistant for Battery Science
Vangara, Sreya
Nanda, Jagjit
Tzeng, Yan-Kai
Darve, Eric
Computation and Language
Information Retrieval
Scientific reasoning increasingly requires linking structured experimental data with the unstructured literature that explains it, yet most large language model (LLM) assistants cannot reason jointly across these modalities. We introduce SpectraQuery, a hybrid natural-language query framework that integrates a relational Raman spectroscopy database with a vector-indexed scientific literature corpus using a Structured and Unstructured Query Language (SUQL)-inspired design. By combining semantic parsing with retrieval-augmented generation, SpectraQuery translates open-ended questions into coordinated SQL and literature retrieval operations, producing cited answers that unify numerical evidence with mechanistic explanation. Across SQL correctness, answer groundedness, retrieval effectiveness, and expert evaluation, SpectraQuery demonstrates strong performance: approximately 80 percent of generated SQL queries are fully correct, synthesized answers reach 93-97 percent groundedness with 10-15 retrieved passages, and battery scientists rate responses highly across accuracy, relevance, grounding, and clarity (4.1-4.6/5). These results show that hybrid retrieval architectures can meaningfully support scientific workflows by bridging data and discourse for high-volume experimental datasets.
title SpectraQuery: A Hybrid Retrieval-Augmented Conversational Assistant for Battery Science
topic Computation and Language
Information Retrieval
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.09036