Extended Solids | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

DARPA's Defense Sciences Office released the "Extended Solids" opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: DARPA BAA 12 20) to attract multidisciplinary research aimed at making a specific class of high-performance materials practical to manufacture at scale. The core idea is to take materials that today can only be created using ultrahigh-pressure synthesis and develop new ways to produce them under much more manageable processing conditions, while still keeping the resulting phases stable at ambient conditions (room temperature and normal pressure). The program is looking for clear, experimentally demonstrated synthesis methods that move these materials out of specialized diamond-anvil-style laboratory environments and into processing regimes that are closer to industrially relevant manufacturing.

The materials of interest are referred to as "extended solids," described as polymorphs or phases derived from simple molecules that, when subjected to extreme pressures, can be forced into very dense crystal packings with strong intermolecular bonding. Under those ultrahigh-pressure conditions, the molecules can reorganize into new structures that behave more like extended networks than loosely bound molecular crystals, which can dramatically change their physical, mechanical, and functional behavior. In practical terms, DARPA is targeting the kinds of transformations that can yield large step-changes in properties, such as much higher hardness, stiffness, strength, thermal or electrical transport behavior, chemical stability, energetic characteristics, or other functional responses depending on the specific chemistry and structure. The solicitation emphasizes that the end goal is not just a new phase formed in the lab, but a phase that can be reliably produced and that remains stable once returned to ambient conditions.

A central performance metric in the announcement is achieving material properties that are roughly 1.5 times better than the state of the art (SOA) in the relevant category. That "1.5X over SOA" target is a way of signaling that incremental improvements are not the point; the program is focused on substantial gains that justify the complexity of inventing new synthesis pathways and scaling them. Proposers are expected to define what "SOA" means for their chosen material system and property set, then show a credible path to exceeding it by that margin with data-driven validation and a clear comparison baseline.

Equally important are the processing constraints DARPA sets to keep the work grounded in manufacturability. The solicitation calls for synthesis approaches that can operate under conditions "amenable to production scales," specified as about 2000 K and 0.5 GPa. While those are still demanding conditions, they are far below the ultrahigh pressures typically needed to force many extended-solid phases to form, and they are closer to what might be engineered in specialized but scalable production equipment. In other words, DARPA is not asking teams to improve diamond anvil cell results; it is asking for alternative synthesis concepts that reduce pressure requirements dramatically, potentially through clever reaction pathways, catalytic or templated methods, non-equilibrium processing, precursor engineering, or other strategies that enable similar bonding and packing outcomes without relying on extreme pressure.

From a program-structure standpoint, this was posted as a discretionary funding opportunity and allowed multiple award instruments, including cooperative agreements, grants, other procurement contracts, and similar mechanisms. There is no cost-sharing or matching requirement listed. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to applicants of many types (for example, universities, companies, nonprofits, and research institutes), subject to any additional clarifications contained in the full BAA text. The opportunity was posted on February 17, 2012, with an original and current closing date of May 22, 2012, and it was archived on August 22, 2012. The CFDA number listed is 12.910, associated with research and technology development.

Overall, the "Extended Solids" BAA is a materials synthesis and scale-up challenge framed around unlocking ultrahigh-pressure-only phases for real-world use. DARPA is seeking proposals that integrate theory, modeling, chemistry, materials science, and process engineering to prove that these dense, strongly bonded phases can be created using lower-pressure, higher-throughput methods, and that they can deliver a significant, quantified performance advantage while remaining stable outside the synthesis environment. For full technical requirements, submission instructions, and any topic-specific constraints, DARPA directs applicants to the attached DARPA BAA 12 20 document and provides a BAA coordinator contact for access issues.

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