Ionic air purifiers have been hurtled into the spotlight with the advent of the Sharper Image air purifier, called the Ionic Breeze. Despite a round of advertising that has wearied rather than enthused consumers, many other manufacturers have joined the ionic air purifier market. So are ion air purifiers actually any good?

The main selling point of ionic air purifiers is the silence with which they are said to remove particles from the air. This is due to the lack of circulating fan in this type of air cleaner, as the Sharper Image air purifier, the original ionic cleaner, relies on electrostatic plates to circulate the air. Independent tests have shown, however, that this reliance is somewhat misplaced