Request for Information (RFI) – Industrial Chemistry and Process Innovations to Enable Continuous, Waste-Free, Domestic Manufacture of Critical Battery Cathode Active Materials | DE FOA 0003386

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003386

The ARPA-E opportunity titled "Request for Information (RFI) - Industrial Chemistry and Process Innovations to Enable Continuous, Waste-Free, Domestic Manufacture of Critical Battery Cathode Active Materials" (Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0003386) is not a grant solicitation and does not provide funding. It is strictly a Request for Information intended to gather technical and market input from industry, researchers, and other stakeholders. ARPA-E is using the responses to shape and refine the concept for a potential future program, but at the time of this notice there is no active Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), no application process for awards, and no planned awards or award amounts listed (award ceiling: $0; expected awards: 0). The RFI was posted on June 10, 2024, with responses due by July 10, 2024, and the full notice is available at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

The central focus of the RFI is the domestic production of cathode active materials (CAMs) and their precursors (pCAMs) for lithium-ion batteries, with an emphasis on innovations that could enable continuous, waste-free manufacturing. ARPA-E is specifically interested in ideas that combine advances in materials, industrial chemistry, processing methods, manufacturing equipment, and coordination across the supply chain to reduce waste, improve throughput, and strengthen U.S.-based manufacturing capability. The framing of the RFI reflects the practical reality that CAMs are a major cost driver in lithium-ion cells, estimated here at roughly 50 percent of total battery cost, and that cathode chemistry plays an outsized role in determining battery performance and safety. In other words, improving how cathode materials are made, and where they are made, has direct implications for battery affordability, scalability, reliability, and domestic supply security.

The RFI grounds its technical motivation in the current commercial landscape for lithium-ion batteries. It highlights that most commercial systems still rely on graphite anodes paired with layered transition metal oxide cathodes, and it points to the performance ceiling already demonstrated by nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cathodes, where cell-level energy densities above 280 Wh/kg have been achieved in combination with graphite. It also notes the direction of recent cathode optimization efforts: reducing cobalt content while increasing nickel content to raise energy density and lower costs. At the same time, the notice acknowledges the parallel push, supported by both government and private funding, toward alternative lithium-based battery chemistries. Within that broader set of alternatives, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) is singled out as the most commercially successful nickel-free and cobalt-free cathode so far, largely because of its advantages in cost, safety, and cycle life.

The RFI also reflects a view of how the market may segment by cathode chemistry. It suggests that LFP, given its cost and safety profile, is gaining market share and could become the dominant option for compact and economy electric vehicles. In contrast, NMC is positioned as likely to remain preferred where high torque response and long driving range are priorities. This market context matters because it implies ARPA-E is not only thinking about one chemistry, but about manufacturing pathways that can support critical cathode materials more broadly, potentially spanning both nickel-rich layered oxides and iron-phosphate-based systems, along with the precursor materials and upstream processing steps needed to make them at scale.

Administratively, the notice is categorized as a discretionary opportunity with an indicated funding instrument type of cooperative agreement, but that detail should be read as a data field rather than evidence of an active funding call, since the document repeatedly and explicitly states that it is an RFI only and not accepting applications for financial assistance. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, reinforcing that ARPA-E is open to hearing from a wide range of respondents rather than limiting participation to a narrow class of institutions. The overall takeaway is that ARPA-E is testing and refining program ideas around continuous, waste-minimizing CAM and pCAM manufacturing innovations that could strengthen domestic battery supply chains, and it is seeking practical input before deciding whether to launch an actual funding program later.

• The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the oz, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Request for Information (RFI) – Industrial Chemistry and Process Innovations to Enable Continuous, Waste-Free, Domestic Manufacture of Critical Battery Cathode Active Materials" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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