Research suggests that rooms facing the sun (with blinds open) have less bacteria and viruses because it is a disinfectant. I would have to imagine in many homes, UV is somewhat pervasive anyhow.
https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186...
While glass blocks some of UV light I'm not sure it would be a big problem. Especially if it's constrained to a tube, for example
Couple it with an activated carbon filter and it should be good (also a HEPA filter of course)
Charcoal (activated carbon) -> HEPA media -> UV light.
There are some arguments that the UV stage might lower air quality by causing particulates to adhere to room surfaces due to electrostatic charge (i.e. particulate counts would drop rapidly due to particles sticking to walls and furniture, but would then drop off as the charge dissipates and return to room air after the filter is off). I’m not sure how relevant this is - as the filter would catch the particles on the next cycle so I guess it would depend on if the unit is running 24/7 or only some of the time.
Mine failed under warranty and wasn’t replaced with a UV unit due to concerns about Ozone.
Here is one anecdotal example: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/d2rjsb/ozone_ge...
N95 masks actually seem like one of the few use cases that make sense, as their composition is well known and they can be easily enclosed. Even when ozone generators work as expected, they can take months to remove odors from spaces.
At the end I decided against the ozone generator for my home and went instead for an air purifier with filter.
Cleaning air is simple; you don't need to look to obscure Ozone/UV devices.
For gasses/VOCs, you need a carbon filter. The larger the filter and more air that moves past it, the better. You can grab industrial ones used in greenhouses for ~$150, some brands (LAYOND on Amazon) have cases that make them look alright and make them quiet.
For particulate (dust), a carbon filter works OK but a HEPA filter is better. Get a name brand one (Honeywell) so you're not getting ripped off.
None of that will replace the lack of oxygen, though-so open a window.
I would think that it would be really hard to make any kind of dent in how much oxygen is in the room... wouldn't, by the time you get there, you have long long since died of carbon dioxide poisoning?
Here’s the basic levels of CO2 that are acceptable in a room. I know I get drowsy in rooms without good airflow when in meetings at the office.
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/amp/co2-comfort-level-d_1...
Ventilation is critical, lest you get other issues such as mould which is a whole other set of problems in itself.
IKEA do some very good value devices. The Fornuftigs are nice, but quite weak. The Starkvind smart purifiers are better. They’re explicitly not HEPA and aim for less dense media / higher cycles, and they produce generally similar results at lower costs.
(There are some poorly informed reviews online that give a bad review because they’re not marketed as true HEPA filters, but this misses the point of cleaning the air you breathe rather than the air inside the unit. There was a post that corrected these reviews on HN some time back, will try to dig out and update).
UV, Ozone and vaporized hydrogen peroxide are all used to some extent. None of them in ways I'd recommend for the home.
For those units, I don't think there's anything to be concerned about here, except the added cost of the UV lighting and what might happen if you (or a technician) were accidentally exposed to the UV lighting during maintenance of the equipment.
IMO, you're going to have to provide some extraordinary evidence if you want to claim UV health risks beyond these two factors.
https://www.uvccleaningsystems.com/cm/dpl/downloads/content/...
Be wary of cheap electronics. E.g. People have been blinded by green laser pointers that convert 1064 nm IR light because of removed ir blocking filters that certain low cost manufacturers remove out of ignorance.