Travel, portable air purifier necklaces have become popular to protect against viruses and other pollutants. They’re small, lightweight, portable, and fairly cheap. Here are the personal air purifiers on Amazon claiming to eliminate germs, dust, viruses, COVID-19, and more from the air.

In the Philippines, President Duterte has been seen wearing a portable air purifier necklace during meetings, and while traveling to India.

But the big question is: do these portable air purifier necklaces actually work?

In this article, we take a deep dive into what wearable air purifiers are, how they work, and whether they can really protect against viruses, PM2.5, and other pollutants.

Air Purifier Necklaces: What Are They?

Wearable air purifier necklaces work differently from typical home air purifiers. They typically use ionizers and ionization technology as a means to filter out pollutants from the air.

Most non-portable home air purifiers, on the other hand, use HEPA filter technology to filter out pollution.

Wearable ionizer purifiers work by emitting thousands of ions into the air every minute.

These emitted ions attach to pollutants in the air, giving them a static charge. Just like a balloon sticks to a wall when it’s been statically charged, the charged particles are then more likely to stick to whatever’s near them.

Are Air Purifier Necklaces Effective for COVID?

How effective are air purifier necklaces against COVID-19 and other pollutants? A study by scientists in China and California tested the effectiveness of 4 wearable personal air purifiers. They put each personal air purifier necklace in a 0.46m³ (16.24 ft³) chamber about the size of a dog kennel. They then measured how well each portable air purifier removed tiny particles from the air. The results? 3 of the 4 wearable ionizers tested removed less than 10% of particles 20 cm (0.1 ft) away from it.

10% protection isn’t great, and far lower than the 95% virus and COVID protection you get from wearing a mask. What’s more, these tests of personal air purifiers were done in a small enclosed 0.46m³ (16.24 ft³) chamber, with no moving air. It’s likely these wearable air purifiers would perform even worse when worn around the neck in the real world. This data shows these wearable air purifiers are likely ineffective for reducing COVID-19 risk.

The data above shows wearable ionizer purifiers don’t work well at purifying the air. But what’s the harm? Surely wearing a portable air purifier and getting 10% protection is better than nothing?

Air Purifier Necklaces Can Harm Your Body

In addition to studies showing wearable purifiers are not great at cleaning the air, there are also other concerns.

1. Wearable Air Purifiers Create Ozone

Various studies have shown wearable air purifiers can create ozone, due to the use of an ionizer instead of a HEPA filter. Ozone is harmful to humans and can damage the lungs. The exact amount of ozone created by each personal purifier can vary widely, but the average consumer has no way of knowing for sure the levels of ozone created by their device.

The exact amount of ozone created by each ionizer can vary widely, but some have been shown to produce harmful levels.

The ozone concentration [produced by wearable purifiers] at human breathing zone may reach up to a harmful level if wearable ionization air cleaners are utilized under calm air conditions.

Shi et al. (2016). Performance of wearable ionization air cleaners: Ozone emission and particle removal

Some marketers have tried to sell the consumer that the ozone produced by ionizers is different than other ozone, and therefore not harmful. This is false, as explained by the EPA:

There is no difference, despite some marketers’ claims, between ozone in smog outdoors and ozone produced by these devices.

United States Environmental Protection Agency

2. Wearable Air Purifiers Interfere With Personal Care Products

The ozone produced by air purifier necklaces may even have other serious health risks.

Studies show ozone can react with terpenes in personal care products including lotions, perfumes, makeup, and other scented products. These ozone reactions can result in the formation of dangerous VOCs such as formaldehyde, as well as PM2.5 particulate matter. All of this would be taking place in the head region. Yikes!

3. Air Purifier Necklaces Can Make Pollution Stick to your Face & Clothes

Ionizers work by making pollution stick to nearby surfaces, removing them from the air. But if the nearest surface is your body, there’s a problem.

When wearing an air purifier necklace, your face, body, and clothes act as the magnet for the pollution to stick to. This could result in dirty clothes and skin, or even breathing in more pollutants than you otherwise would.

Personal Portable Air Purifier Alternatives to Wearable Necklaces

As we have discussed, wearable necklace air purifiers should not be used as personal air purifiers. Fortunately, some portable, HEPA-based personal air purifiers exist on the market. These personal portable air purifiers can give you true clean air on the go.

Read More: Portable air purifiers that actually use HEPA filters, not ionizers

How I Protect Myself

Unfortunately, the data shows wearable air purifiers do not work great, but there are two ways to protect yourself that are incredibly effective: masks and HEPA air purifiers.

Smart Air is a certified B Corp committed to combating the myths big companies use to inflate the price of clean air.

Smart Air provides empirically backed, no-nonsense purifiers and masks, that remove the same particles as the big companies for a fraction of the cost. Only corporations benefit when clean air is a luxury.

Check out the Sqair!