An ionic air purifier can be a great choice for your home; in fact my best air purifier reviewed on this site has ionic elements...
…but there's a lot of fog around ionic cleaners, primarily because the term 'ionic' is used to describe vastly different technologies, some of which are harmful, some are fantastic.
Here's the full story and what you should be looking for:
The Sharper Image masterminded the ionic air purifier craze; folks went nuts on ionic air cleaners…
…until we all discovered that their so called "Ionic Breeze air purifier" actually polluted the air with ozone, a health-harmful, unstable gas.
Oh, and they never cleaned the air very well in the first place, and the Sharper Image ended up declaring bankruptcy, at least in part due to this mistake.
Today, The Sharper Image, still in business, strangely pays homage to this unfortunate set of circumstances:
"Sharper Image revolutionized the air purifier world with the introduction of its ionic breeze over a decade ago"
There are better choices...
Almost all Ionic air cleaners work off a "static charge" principle that uses electricity to "charge" airborne particles so that they are more likely to "cling" to a collector.
One of these Ionics Is Not Like The Other...
Manufacturers of ionic air cleaner use the term "ionic" so broadly with oceans-apart difference in results.
For example:
…The Ionic Breeze air purifier, one of my worst rated and reviewed air purifiers, uses a charging process (that produces harmful ozone as a by-product) in hopes that the same particles will stick to these metal plates in the machine.
…The Blueair air purifier uses an ion brush, which produces no ozone, to charge particles which stick to their HEPASilent filters with tremendous efficiency and effectiveness, so much so that it rated best air purifier.
In short, one belongs in the garbage, the other is my "Dad's Pick" for best overall air purifier.
Alpine, Living Air, Ecoquest also all fall into the ionic air purifier category…
…But these types are worse...
…they deliberately produce ozone to clean the air, which can be effective at removing odors and allergens but harm your health at the same time! The curious can read more about ozone air purifiers…
The ionic craze launched due to snake-oil marketing, and crashed with the knowledge of their producing ozone, unintentionally or intentionally.
Still, in a broad sense, 'ionic' technology, when used correctly, will not only avoid ozone, but make for one of the best, if not the best, ionic air purifier on the market, the Blueair 501.