Optimizing cross-domain transfer for universal machine learning interatomic potentials

Abstract Accurate yet transferable machine-learning interatomic potentials are essential for accelerating materials and chemical discovery. However, many existing universal models are overfitted to narrow chemical spaces or computational protocols, limiting their reliability across diverse chemical and functional domains. Here, we introduce a transferable multi-domain training strategy that jointly optimizes parameters through selective regularization, coupled with a domain-bridging set that aligns potential-energy surfaces across datasets. Systematic ablation experiments show that suggested strategies synergistically enhance out-of-distribution generalization while preserving in-domain fidelity. Based on our observation, we train SevenNet-Omni on 15 open datasets spanning molecules, crystals, and surfaces. Our model achieves state-of-the-art accuracy in cross-domain benchmarks, reaching chemical accuracy in various scenarios including adsorption-energy in catalytic surfaces and metal–organic frameworks. SevenNet-Omni also accurately reproduces high-fidelity properties by effectively transferring knowledge learned from larger, lower-accuracy databases. This framework offers a scalable route toward universal, transferable models that bridge quantum-mechanical fidelities and chemical domains.