Facebook and Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up to use artificial intelligence (AI) to discover new "electrocatalysts" capable of enhancing storage for electricity generated via renewable energy alternatives amid the climate crisis, according to a blog post from Facebook. Facebook AI has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU's) department of chemical engineering to launch a new project called Open Catalyst Project -- which aims to accelerate quantum mechanical simulations on the order of 1,000 times faster, using AI. In this way, they hope to find new electrocatalysts needed to build more efficient and scalable means of storing and using renewable energy, according to Facebook AI's blog post. Electrocatalysts are useful because they can convert excess solar and wind power into other fuels -- like ethanol and hydrogen -- that are not as difficult to store. But present-day electrocatalysts are expensive and rare -- especially platinum.