Request For Information (RFI) on Accelerating the Catalyst Development Cycle for Net Zero Applications | DE FOA 0003375

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003375

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) issued a Request for Information (RFI) titled "Accelerating the Catalyst Development Cycle for Net Zero Applications" (Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0003375). This notice is strictly an information-gathering request and not a funding opportunity. It is not accepting applications, it does not offer financial assistance, and it does not represent an active Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). ARPA-E is using this RFI to collect technical and programmatic input that could shape a future program area, but no awards are available under this notice (award ceiling of $0 and expected awards of 0).

The core focus of the RFI is heterogeneous catalysts and how to dramatically speed up the end-to-end catalyst development cycle for net zero-relevant technologies tied to U.S. 2050 climate goals. ARPA-E highlights that catalyst development often takes decades, moving from early discovery work at milligram-scale material quantities to later development and validation at kilogram-scale quantities suitable for real processes and equipment. The agency is interested in ideas that could compress that timeline down to months, while still delivering meaningful outcomes such as higher energy efficiency, lower emissions, and/or reduced reliance on precious metals (for example, decreasing the amount of platinum group metals needed to achieve a given performance target).

The RFI lays out several bottlenecks that repeatedly slow progress and limit real-world impact. These include inefficient discovery approaches that do not explore enough of the possible material landscape, difficulties reproducing synthesis methods across scales (where a recipe that works in a small lab batch fails or changes materially when scaled), and characterization workflows that are too slow or too manual to keep pace with rapid iteration. ARPA-E also points to challenges in optimization, such as searching too narrow a design space or relying on trial-and-error rather than systematic strategies, and to performance evaluation methods that can be disconnected from actual operating conditions, leading to results that do not translate to commercial reactors, devices, or unit operations. Finally, the RFI emphasizes integration problems: even a strong catalyst can be impractical if it is not "drop-in" compatible with emerging technologies, meaning it may require major changes to equipment, process conditions, or supply chains that limit adoption.

In terms of where these improved catalyst development methods would matter, ARPA-E frames the opportunity broadly around incorporation into reactors, devices, equipment, unit operations, and process technology applications relevant to decarbonization and net zero. The underlying intent is to spur input on approaches that link faster discovery and scale-up with realistic deployment pathways, so that promising catalysts do not stall between lab validation and practical use.

Administrative details included in the listing reinforce its non-funding status while describing how it is cataloged in grants systems: the opportunity category is discretionary, the funding instrument type is listed as a cooperative agreement (relevant only if a future FOA is released), the activity category is science and technology and other R&D, and the CFDA number is 81.135. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, which signals ARPA-E is open to input from a wide range of stakeholders (academia, industry, national labs, startups, equipment manufacturers, and other organizations), again for information purposes rather than proposal submission. The RFI was created May 14, 2024, with an original closing date of June 13, 2024. The full RFI text and submission instructions are available through the ARPA-E FOA website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

• 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) on Accelerating the Catalyst Development Cycle for Net Zero Applications" 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 2024-05-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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