Query Materials Project Database Panel

Query the database of the Materials Project for structures that match a set of criteria. The structures are downloaded and can be incorporated into the project.

To open this panel: click the Tasks button and browse to Materials → Tools → Query Materials Project Database.

The following licenses are required to use this panel: MS Maestro

  • Using
  • Features
  • Additional Resources

Using the Query Materials Project Database Panel

To query the Materials Project database, choose an option for the query and set it up, enter your API key, and run the job. The structures returned from the query can be incorporated into the project, by choosing an incorporation option in the Job Settings Dialog Box. For information on obtaining an API key, see https://materialsproject.org/api.

To write out the input file and a script for running the job from the command line, click the arrow next to the Settings button and choose Write. For information on command usage and options, see query_materials_mp.py Command Help.

When using the database search from this panel, the following citations should be used (see https://materialsproject.org/about/cite).

A. Jain*, S.P. Ong*, G. Hautier, W. Chen, W.D. Richards, S. Dacek, S. Cholia, D. Gunter, D. Skinner, G. Ceder, K.A. Persson (*=equal contributions). The Materials Project: A materials genome approach to accelerating materials innovation. APL Materials, 2013, 1(1), 011002. doi:10.1063/1.4812323

S. P. Ong, S. Cholia, A. Jain, M. Brafman, D. Gunter, G. Ceder, K. A. Persson. The Materials Application Programming Interface (API): A simple, flexible and efficient API for materials data based on REpresentational State Transfer (REST) principles. Computational Materials Science, 2015, 97, 209–215. doi:10.1016/j.commatsci.2014.10.037

Query Materials Project Database Panel Features

Search criteria options and text boxes

Specify the query for the search by one of the following methods. Each text box has an example of the format of the search terms.

  • Cell formula—search by the given reduced cell formula of the material.
  • List of IDs—specify a list of structure IDs from the Materials Project database to download.
  • Elements—search for structures that contain the specified list of elements.
Max results text box

Specify the maximum number of results to return.

API Key text box

Specify the key for access to the API. For information on obtaining an API key, see https://materialsproject.org/api. Current (32 characters) API keys are supported.

Job toolbar

Manage job submission and settings. See Job Toolbar for a description of this toolbar.

The structures returned from the query can be incorporated into the project, by choosing an option in the Job Settings Dialog Box.

The Job Settings button opens the Query Materials Project Database - Job Settings Dialog Box, where you can make settings for running the job.

Status bar

The status bar displays information about the current job settings and status for the panel. The settings includes the job name, task name and task settings (if any), number of subjobs (if any) and the host name and job incorporation setting. The job status can include messages about job start, job completion and incorporation.

Use the Reset button to reset the panel to its default settings and clear any data from the panel. You can also reset the panel from the Job toolbar.

The status bar also contains the Help button , which opens the help topic for the panel in your browser. If the panel is used by one or more tutorials, hovering over the Help button displays a button, which you can click to display a list of tutorials (or you can right-click the Help button instead). Choosing a tutorial opens the tutorial topic.

Quick Reference Sheets

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