Creating nanomaterials with flame spray pyrolysis is complex, but scientists at Argonne have discovered how applying artificial intelligence can lead to an easier process and better performance. During a tour of the Manufacturing and Engineering Research Facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, Marius Stan, the Intelligent Materials Design lead in Argonne's Applied Materials Division (AMD), encountered a new experimental setup. As he watched the machine in the experiment, which relies on flame to produce nanomaterials, he had a thought: Could artificial intelligence be used to optimize this complex process? When asked to explain the process, Stan put it simply: "It's where scientists put chemicals in a flame and wait for a miracle--for particles to appear at the end of the process, particles that have important properties for a variety of applications." Flame spray pyrolysis is a technology that enables the manufacturing of nanomaterials in high volumes, which in turn is critical to producing a wide range of industrial materials, like chemical catalysts, battery electrolytes/cathodes and pigments.