Promethean Clay

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for new and innovative energy storage systems. Proposed research should investigate approaches that enable revolutionary advances in energy storage at scales relevant to integration into systems. Promethean Clay rethinks energy storage systems in a mechanical co-design framework to enable performance, safety, and operational stability in electrically powered technologies.

Specifically, by thinking of energy storage systems as mechanical systems in addition to chemical systems, this program will ameliorate the need for the rigid, heavy exoskeletons used in energy storage systems today, resulting in (1) a generational improvement in energy storage performance through obviation of rigid materials, (2) a design that incorporates thermal resilience and safety needed for integration into systems, and (3) a pathway for domestic sourcing of materials and manufacturing.

Improvements in energy storage – paired with safety and thermal viability – will be evaluated and demonstrated on a government-provided platform. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice, or research that pivots on exceptional claims that cannot be technically justified in the proposal. This includes:

• Proposals outlining improvement of individual energy storage components without consideration for the complete energy storage system and its performance, safety, and thermal resilience considering all included materials (active and inactive) • Proposals aiming to design new chemistries for energy storage (e.g. new battery and/or fuel cell chemistries) or new concepts for energy storage without addressing the need to overcome the inclusion of inactive rigid materials In addition to technical achievements, Promethean Clay aims to transition the manufacturing and design of solutions to commercial production and government systems.