Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses

Chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) are a class of amorphous materials presenting remarkable mechanical, optical, and electrical properties, making them promising candidates for advanced photonic and optoelectronic applications. With the increasing integration of artificial intelligence in modern materials...

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Main Authors: Miruna-Ioana Belciu, Alin Velea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Molecules
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/8/1745
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author Miruna-Ioana Belciu
Alin Velea
author_facet Miruna-Ioana Belciu
Alin Velea
author_sort Miruna-Ioana Belciu
collection DOAJ
description Chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) are a class of amorphous materials presenting remarkable mechanical, optical, and electrical properties, making them promising candidates for advanced photonic and optoelectronic applications. With the increasing integration of artificial intelligence in modern materials design, we are able to systematically select, prepare, and optimize appropriate compositions for desired applications in a manner that was unachievable before. This study employs various machine learning models to reliably predict the refractive index at 20 °C using a small dataset of 541 samples extracted from the SciGlass database. The input for the algorithms consists of a selected set of physico-chemical features computed for the chemical composition of each entry. Additionally, these algorithms served as inner models for an ensemble logistic regression estimator that achieved a superior <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> value of 0.8985. SHAP feature analysis of the second-best model, CatBoostRegressor (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> = 0.8920), revealed the importance of elemental density, atomic weight, ground state atomic gap, and fraction of p valence electrons in tuning the value of the refractive index of a chalcogenide compound.
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spelling doaj-art-02518d68fe284768a35cbc87f29cfea62025-08-20T03:13:48ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492025-04-01308174510.3390/molecules30081745Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide GlassesMiruna-Ioana Belciu0Alin Velea1National Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor 405A, 077125 Magurele, RomaniaNational Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor 405A, 077125 Magurele, RomaniaChalcogenide glasses (ChGs) are a class of amorphous materials presenting remarkable mechanical, optical, and electrical properties, making them promising candidates for advanced photonic and optoelectronic applications. With the increasing integration of artificial intelligence in modern materials design, we are able to systematically select, prepare, and optimize appropriate compositions for desired applications in a manner that was unachievable before. This study employs various machine learning models to reliably predict the refractive index at 20 °C using a small dataset of 541 samples extracted from the SciGlass database. The input for the algorithms consists of a selected set of physico-chemical features computed for the chemical composition of each entry. Additionally, these algorithms served as inner models for an ensemble logistic regression estimator that achieved a superior <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> value of 0.8985. SHAP feature analysis of the second-best model, CatBoostRegressor (<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mrow><mi mathvariant="normal">R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> = 0.8920), revealed the importance of elemental density, atomic weight, ground state atomic gap, and fraction of p valence electrons in tuning the value of the refractive index of a chalcogenide compound.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/8/1745chalcogenide glassesrefractive indexensemble learningsmall data
spellingShingle Miruna-Ioana Belciu
Alin Velea
Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses
Molecules
chalcogenide glasses
refractive index
ensemble learning
small data
title Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses
title_full Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses
title_fullStr Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses
title_full_unstemmed Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses
title_short Ensemble Machine Learning for the Prediction and Understanding of the Refractive Index in Chalcogenide Glasses
title_sort ensemble machine learning for the prediction and understanding of the refractive index in chalcogenide glasses
topic chalcogenide glasses
refractive index
ensemble learning
small data
url https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/8/1745
work_keys_str_mv AT mirunaioanabelciu ensemblemachinelearningforthepredictionandunderstandingoftherefractiveindexinchalcogenideglasses
AT alinvelea ensemblemachinelearningforthepredictionandunderstandingoftherefractiveindexinchalcogenideglasses