Systematic Control of Experimental Inconsistency in Combinatorial Materials Science

Abstract

We developed a method to systematically control experimental inconsistency, which is one of the most troublesome and difficult problems in high-throughput combinatorial experiments. The topic of experimental inconsistency is never addressed, even though all scientists in the field of combinatorial materials science face this very serious problem. Experimental inconsistency and material property were selected as dual objective functions that were simultaneously optimized. Specifically, in an attempt to search for promising phosphors with high reproducibility, photoluminescence (PL) intensity was maximized, and experimental inconsistency was minimized by employing a multiobjective evolutionary optimization-assisted combinatorial materials search (MOEO combinatorial material search) strategy. A tetravalent manganese-doped alkali earth germanium/titanium oxide system was used as a model system to be screened using MOEO combinatorial materials search. As a result of MOEO reiteration, we identified a halide-detached deep red phosphor with improved PL intensity and reliable reproducibility.