A startup that captures carbon dioxide directly from the air has raised $80 million from investors, including Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Verdox has a different approach that it claims to be more efficient and therefore cheaper. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff has developed a special type of plastic that can selectively pull out CO₂ from a mix of gas — in air or exhaust — when charged with electricity. Once trapped, a change in voltage releases the CO₂. The startup said its material could cut the total energy used in direct air capture by 70% or more. The startup will have to rely on low-carbon electricity to power the process. An early version of the material, developed at MIT, worked well at capturing CO₂ but it also ended up capturing oxygen. Air is composed of 21% oxygen and only 0.04% CO₂. But in the past year, Verdox has landed on a material that Baynes said is 5,000 times more attractive to CO₂ than oxygen. “That’s the most significant accomplishment in the last two years,” said Baynes. He declined to share any other details about the material. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/bill-gates-invests-in-carbon-capture-startup-after-tech-breakthrough/