# Battery trick captures carbon at lower cost

> A new electrochemical device uses battery chemistry to pull CO2 from air more efficiently than current methods, with potential to hit the industry's holy grail price.
- Title: Battery trick captures carbon at lower cost · Ars Technica
- Summary: A new electrochemical device uses battery chemistry to pull CO2 from air more efficiently than current methods, with potential to hit the industry's holy…
- Keywords: carbon capture, battery technology, university of delaware, james buchen, repair carbon, electrochemical, climeworks, climate technology, technology, science, Battery, trick
- Source: Ars Technica — https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/new-device-captures-carbon-dioxide-by-pumping-it-across-a-battery
- Published: 2026-09-28T20:31:06+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: carbon capture, battery technology, university of delaware, james buchen, repair carbon, electrochemical, climeworks, climate technology, technology, science
## How carbon capture works today
Current devices pass air through filters that absorb carbon dioxide, then heat them to release the gas in a separate stream.
## A battery-based alternative
James Buchen at the University of Delaware has developed a battery that captures carbon dioxide electrochemically, potentially using less energy than filter-based methods.
## How the battery captures CO2
Hydroxide produced at the cathode reacts with carbon dioxide, converting it to carbonate that moves across the separator to the anode, where lower pH reverses the reaction and releases carbon dioxide gas.
## Lab test shows energy advantage
Buchen's nine-cell device used zero point eight megawatt-hours per ton of captured carbon dioxide, compared to one point five to three megawatt-hours for current ambient air capture facilities.
## Path to the hundred-dollar target
RepAir Carbon, a startup based on this technology, projects costs of five hundred sixty six dollars per ton initially, dropping to ninety two dollars per ton at thousand-times scale.
## Why this matters for adoption
The hundred-dollar-per-ton goal has long been the industry target for widespread carbon capture. Climeworks aims for two hundred fifty to three hundred fifty dollars by twenty thirty.
## Key takeaway

Researchers at the University of Delaware have developed a battery-based carbon capture device that uses less energy than existing methods and could eventually cost ninety two dollars per ton, approaching the hundred dollar target needed for widespread adoption.