6 Research Teams to Work on DARPA’s Morphogenic Interfaces Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced the selection of six research teams for a program to improve the persistence and performance of anti-corrosion coatings, batteries and other electrochemical platforms that protect and power critical defense hardware and systems.

The teams of university and industry researchers will develop solid-liquid interfaces for corrosion-resistant coatings and solid-solid interfaces for solid-state batteries under the Morphogenic Interfaces program, DARPA said Friday.

The three research teams that will build solid/solid electrochemical interfaces for solid state batteries are:

• Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Harvard University, Argonne National Laboratory, 24M Technologies and QuantumScape
• GE Research, University of Michigan, University of California Santa Barbara and Storagenergy
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Michigan, Purdue University, Princeton University, Caltech, Georgia Tech and Xerion Advanced Battery Corp.

The groups that will develop solid/vapor and solid/liquid interfaces for corrosion resistant coatings are:

• GE Research, University of Virginia, DNV GL USA and Brigham Young University
• Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University and Northrop Grumman
• University of Virginia, Saint Louis University and Florida State University

“The teams we’ve selected will develop and demonstrate novel morphogenic interface materials to enable long-lasting and high-performance solid-state batteries that power everything from warfighter battery packs to unmanned aerial and ground vehicles as well as provide low-maintenance corrosion resistant coatings for critical maritime assets deployed in harsh environments,” said Vishnu Sundaresan, MINT program manager at DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.

Under the initial phase, the researchers will develop models of interfacial processes and design and demonstrate morphogenic interfaces. The second phase will focus on improving the performance and accuracy of interface materials in corrosion protection and batteries.