Au-delà can be used in two ways, as a location adverb.
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au-delà de when the location is specified
Il est interdit d’aller au-delà de la barrière (It’s forbidden to go beyond the fence)
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au-delà when the location is already known, and doesn’t have to be specified
Tu peux aller jusqu’à la barrière, mais c’est interdit au-delà. (You can go as far as the fence, but it’s forgotten to go beyond.)
So in your example, the correct form is indeed au-delà de la simplicité matérielle.
See more examples in the Wiktionnaire.
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