Graph neural networks for molecular and materials representation

Material molecular representation (MMR) plays an important role in material property or chemical reaction prediction. However, traditional expert-designed MMR methods face challenges in dealing with high dimensionality and heterogeneity of material data, leading to limited generalization capabilities and insufficient information representation. In recent years, graph neural networks (GNNs), a deep learning algorithm specifically designed for graph structures, have made inroads into the field of MMR. It will be instructive and inspiring to conduct a survey on various GNNs used for MMR. To achieve this objective, we compare GNNs with conventional MMR methods and illustrate the advantages of GNNs, such as their expressiveness and adaptability. In addition, we systematically classify and summarize the methods and applications of GNNs. Finally, we provide our insights into future research directions, taking into account the characteristics of molecular data and the inherent drawbacks of GNNs. This comprehensive survey is intended to present a holistic view of GNNs for MMR, focusing on the core concepts, the main techniques, and the future trends in this area.