Machine learning interatomic potential can infer electrical response

Abstract Modeling the response of material and chemical systems to electric fields remains a longstanding challenge. Machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) offer an efficient and scalable alternative to quantum mechanical methods, but do not by themselves incorporate electrical response. Here, we show that polarization and Born effective charge (BEC) tensors can be directly extracted from long-range MLIPs within the Latent Ewald Summation (LES) framework, solely by learning from energy and force data. Using this approach, we predict the infrared spectra of bulk water under zero or finite external electric fields, ionic conductivities of high-pressure superionic ice, and the phase transition and hysteresis in ferroelectric PbTiO 3 perovskite. This work thus extends the capability of MLIPs to predict electrical response –without training on charges or polarization or BECs– and enables accurate modeling of electric-field-driven processes in diverse systems at scale.

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Publication Details

Journal
npj Computational Materials
Published
2025-12-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-025-01911-z
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Machine Learning in Materials Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.07
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article

Machine learning interatomic potential can infer electrical response

Peichen Zhong, Dongjin Kim, Daniel S. King, Bingqing Cheng
4 citations
npj Computational Materials
Machine Learning in Materials Science
2.07
article

Machine learning interatomic potential can infer electrical response

Peichen Zhong, Dongjin Kim, Daniel S. King, Bingqing Cheng
article en
4 citations

Abstract

Abstract Modeling the response of material and chemical systems to electric fields remains a longstanding challenge. Machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) offer an efficient and scalable alternative to quantum mechanical methods, but do not by themselves incorporate electrical response. Here, we show that polarization and Born effective charge (BEC) tensors can be directly extracted from long-range MLIPs within the Latent Ewald Summation (LES) framework, solely by learning from energy and force data. Using this approach, we predict the infrared spectra of bulk water under zero or finite external electric fields, ionic conductivities of high-pressure superionic ice, and the phase transition and hysteresis in ferroelectric PbTiO 3 perovskite. This work thus extends the capability of MLIPs to predict electrical response –without training on charges or polarization or BECs– and enables accurate modeling of electric-field-driven processes in diverse systems at scale.

npj Computational MaterialsVol. 11(1)
Berkeley College (US), Institute of Science and Technology Austria (AT), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Machine Learning in Materials Science
2.07
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