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Main Authors: Schlesinger, Claire, Hsu, Circe, Schindler, Peter, Walters, Robin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16612
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author Schlesinger, Claire
Hsu, Circe
Schindler, Peter
Walters, Robin
author_facet Schlesinger, Claire
Hsu, Circe
Schindler, Peter
Walters, Robin
contents Rapid identification of candidate materials with target properties has become a key task in materials science. Machine learning has emerged as an alternative to physics-based simulation, offering a faster and cheaper way to filter materials based on their stability and other target properties, reducing the number of candidates that reach the costly synthesis stage. Recently, Large Language Models (LLMs) have been applied to this role, but these models are parameter-heavy and computationally expensive both during training and at inference time, making them unsuitable for high-throughput tasks. This inefficiency stems from both the large over-parameterization of language models and the difficulty of framing material generation as a sequence learning problem. In this paper, we present PRISMat, a cost-effective, permutation-invariant model, which addresses these limitations. We show that PRISMat, despite taking less time for inference, is able to outperform LLMs in generating crystal slabs conditioned on critical materials' surface properties. In targeted material discovery, we achieve mean absolute errors of 0.188 eV/A$^2$ and 2.79 eV for cleavage energy and work function tasks, respectively, reducing the error of the next best model by 4$\times$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_16612
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle PRISMat: Policy-Driven, Permutation-Invariant Autoregressive Material Generation
Schlesinger, Claire
Hsu, Circe
Schindler, Peter
Walters, Robin
Artificial Intelligence
Materials Science
Rapid identification of candidate materials with target properties has become a key task in materials science. Machine learning has emerged as an alternative to physics-based simulation, offering a faster and cheaper way to filter materials based on their stability and other target properties, reducing the number of candidates that reach the costly synthesis stage. Recently, Large Language Models (LLMs) have been applied to this role, but these models are parameter-heavy and computationally expensive both during training and at inference time, making them unsuitable for high-throughput tasks. This inefficiency stems from both the large over-parameterization of language models and the difficulty of framing material generation as a sequence learning problem. In this paper, we present PRISMat, a cost-effective, permutation-invariant model, which addresses these limitations. We show that PRISMat, despite taking less time for inference, is able to outperform LLMs in generating crystal slabs conditioned on critical materials' surface properties. In targeted material discovery, we achieve mean absolute errors of 0.188 eV/A$^2$ and 2.79 eV for cleavage energy and work function tasks, respectively, reducing the error of the next best model by 4$\times$.
title PRISMat: Policy-Driven, Permutation-Invariant Autoregressive Material Generation
topic Artificial Intelligence
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16612