Deadline: 13-Oct-2025
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, is preparing to launch a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) titled “Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator.”
With up to $50 million in available funding, this initiative is designed to support mid-stage research and development focused on critical minerals and materials (CMM), which are essential to America’s energy infrastructure, national security, and industrial leadership.
This upcoming funding opportunity aims to address the challenges in building a resilient domestic supply chain for critical minerals. The Accelerator program will support industry-led partnerships in piloting and prototyping technologies that have been proven at the bench scale. These projects will undergo validation, benchmarking, and be tested in industry-relevant environments, with support for techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessments to advance technology readiness. The end goal is to position these innovations for commercial deployment within three to seven years.
By leveraging resources like the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (CMI Hub) and the Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Research Facility (METALLIC), the program creates a pipeline for technology maturation that can attract future private investment. It also supports the DOE’s broader goal of fostering secure and sustainable critical material production technologies within the U.S.
Expected areas of interest under the NOFO include innovations in the rare earth magnet supply chain, refining and alloying of critical semiconducting materials like gallium and germanium, cost-competitive lithium extraction methods, and value-added co-production processes that enhance the economics of material separation technologies.
The anticipated duration for each funded project is between one and four years. This opportunity is aligned with DOE’s strategic focus on accelerating the development of advanced materials and maintaining the nation’s competitive edge in critical mineral technologies.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
