AutoXRD is an autonomous large language model (LLM) agent framework designed to automate powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis by structuring the process as stepwise refinement, grounding actions in observed evidence, and applying deterministic crystallographic and physical checks. The authors introduce XRDBench, comprising two tracks: XRDBench-QA with 100 diagnostic tasks focused on scientific reasoning, and XRDBench-E2E with 34 executable workflows that test full analysis capabilities, including file inspection, software execution, iterative refinement, evidence preservation, and reporting. Evaluation of ten recent LLMs on 1,340 model–task runs shows average scores of 57.8, with GPT‑5.6 Sol achieving the highest overall score of 81.1; the study also identifies key failure modes such as coupled‑parameter control and quantitative reasoning, highlighting areas for future improvement.
By Yuetong Wu, Maojun Sun
The paper introduces eXplainable DFT (XDFT), a self‑evolving computational agent that transforms experiment‑simulation mismatches into executable searches for physical mechanisms. XDFT formalizes candidate mechanisms as hypotheses, tests them against experimental data, and refines its search strategy through a learning loop. In a benchmark of 112 cases where standard calculations predicted a metal but experiments found a semiconductor, XDFT resolved 105 cases with evidence‑supported mechanisms, and its top‑ranked hypotheses improved dramatically over initial expert priors.
By Yue Li, Penghui Yang, Yushan Xiao, Zhonghan Zhang, Jianguo Huang, Yuhao Lu, Cuntai Guan, Bo An, Bijun Tang, Zheng Liu
arXiv:2608. 11224v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Materials research advances through accumulated experience - scripts that work, protocols that are trusted, warnings attached to failed calculations or experiments, and judgement that links a new question to an old result.
By Siyu Liu, Bo Hu, Beilin Ye, He Cao, David J. Srolovitz, Tongqi Wen
SynAgent is a framework that uses large language model agents to run autonomous experiments while building an explicit, revisable understanding of the synthesis process. Unlike traditional black‑box optimizers, SynAgent generates analysis skills on the fly and reasons multimodally over data such as X‑ray diffraction patterns and electron micrographs. In an 18‑experiment campaign on LiCoO₂ thin‑film deposition, SynAgent produced highly crystalline films and uncovered a sharp temperature threshold and optimal growth window (650–690 °C) for crystallization.
By Izumi Takahara, Kazunori Nishio, Akira Aiba, Shigeru Kobayashi, Takao Nakajima, Taro Hitosugi, Teruyasu Mizoguchi
arXiv:2606. 12834v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: As scientific workflows shift from deterministic executables to LLM-based agents, the development practices on offer, such as fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, and prompt-and-go, bury the scientist's judgment.
By Woong Shin, Craig A. Bridges, Marshall T. McDonnell, Rafael Ferreira da Silva
Self-driving laboratories can explore synthesis conditions autonomously, but their decision-making layer is typically a black-box optimizer, and the output is a set of optimized samples, with the meas...
arXiv:2608. 06448v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Recovering a periodic 3D crystal structure from sparse, unindexed electron diffraction (ED) observations is a challenging generative inverse problem.
By Germain Poloudenny, Ya\"el Fr\'egier, Arnaud Demorti\`ere
arXiv:2606. 14003v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Determining the crystal structure of a material from its powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) pattern is a central challenge in materials science.
By Nofit Segal, Mingda Li, Benjamin Kurt Miller, Rafael G\'omez-Bombarelli
arXiv:2605. 26179v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Density functional theory (DFT) serves as the basis for computational discovery in materials science and chemistry, yet each calculation demands extensive human effort: adjusting algorithms when convergence stalls, revising plans when unexpected physics emerges, and inserting steps as intermediate results reshape the problem.
By Penghui Yang, Zhonghan Zhang, Yue Li, Xinrun Wang, Yanchen Deng, Yuhao Lu, Bijun Tang, Zheng Liu, Bo An
XDecomposer is a prior‑free framework that jointly decomposes and identifies multiphase X‑ray diffraction patterns without requiring candidate phase lists, structural templates, or knowledge of the number of phases. It treats multiphase analysis as a set prediction problem, inferring an unordered set of phase‑resolved components, their mixture proportions, and structural representations within a single architecture. Experiments on simulated and experimental data demonstrate improved reconstruction accuracy and phase identification across diverse chemical systems, with strong generalization to unseen mixtures.
By Hanyu Gao, Bin Cao, Yunyue Su, Tong-Yi Zhang, Qiang Liu
arXiv:2512. 11935v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Agentic AI systems increasingly connect large language models (LLMs) to external scientific tools, yet whether and when tool access improves prediction accuracy remains uncharacterized.
By Jaehyung Lee, Justin Ely, Kent Zhang, Akshaya Ajith, Charles Rhys Campbell, Kamal Choudhary
arXiv:2606. 29315v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to take actions in the real world and support human decision-making, yet most agents rely on parametric knowledge, fixed post-training data, retrieval, or search.
By Abhranil Chandra, Sankaran Vaidyanathan, Utsav Dhanuka, Varun Gandhi, Scott Niekum