Toyota uses quantum computing to find the best material for batteries

Quantum computers are well suited for modeling various physical and chemical processes, but it is very difficult to program them. Scientists from Toyota and the startup company QunaSys decided to solve this problem together and find the most efficient materials for creating batteries for electric cars.

To do this, they used a 27-bit quantum computer Q System One, which was created by IBM in collaboration with the University of Tokyo. Other Japanese organizations also participated in the project. One of them is the startup QunaSys, which has extensive experience in quantum computing as well as creating quantum models to find new materials with well-defined properties.

In its work, QunaSys uses density functional theory (DFT), which treats each solid as a large number of identical and interacting electrons held together by a lattice of atomic nuclei. In other words, it is an electron density distribution that is described by quantum Schrödinger equations. Simulation of mathematical models of this kind is very suitable for modern quantum computers.

With classical computers such a simulation would require months of simulation, whereas a quantum computer produces final results many times faster and with higher accuracy.

Source: nikkei

Illustrations: IBM