Ionic Air Purifier
An Ionic Air Purifier is one of the latest innovations that have come about in trying to reduce airborne allergens and particles that cause breathing problems. Basically, these contain an "ionizer" which is a device that will charge airborne particles - that causes them to settle onto surfaces in the room, as the particles become attracted to them. Once they're there, the particles aren't in the air and you can't breathe them in. A lot of them also have metal plates inside that are charged so that they attract the particles themselves (so as to keep your house from being covered in dust).
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Ionic Air Purifier
Should you get an ionic air purifier? There are a couple of very good points in their favor. First, because they work based on energy, they're usually nearly silent. They also don't release chemicals into the air - this is a big problem with many air purifiers, and you need to check out whichever brand you're buying. Many of them use ozone in cleaning the air, and this is a little iffy on whether it's safe or not. They're also pretty effective at getting rid of odors. This is because gas molecules (the things that cause most odors) get soaked into the dust - the dust gets pulled out of the air, and that gets rid of the smell.
There are a couple of problems, though. You need to be able to wash the area around the air purifier - preferably some kind of tile, because all that dust is going to go straight onto the floor nearby. You also need to make sure that you're getting the kind of filter you want - the thing with many modern air purifiers is that they use multiple different techniques - a process called "layering." So many will have an ionizer (and thus be an ionic air purifier) but also use something else. If you're trying to avoid a specific method - such as ozone - you should make absolutely sure that even though something is called an ionic air purifier, it doesn't have the method you don't want in its arsenal.
Ion Air Purifier - Details on the ion air purifier technique.
Air Purifier Ionizer - Information on ionization and how it purifier particles from the air.
Air Purifier Guide Main