NRI invents first air purifier that destroys air pollutants

An NRI has invented an air purifier that destroys air pollutants.

Yogi Goswami, who migrated to the US for pursuing a career in solar energy, often found his baby sonstruggling with asthma and began research for a new technology as existing air purifier offered no relief from poor indoor air quality.

Twenty years after, Goswami has found a probable solution in Molekule. Touted as the world's first air purifier that completely destroys harmful pollutants - all existing technology only traps such particles - the device has made to the 2017 list of Time's top 25 inventions.

Featured in Time's best inventions of 2017. Molekule is one of the 25 inventions that made this year’s cut. Time writes: Most air filters improve air quality by trapping harmful pollutants in a filter. Molekule takes that idea one step further—by destroying them altogether. The key is its specially coated nanofilter, which is designed to react with light in a way that prevents toxins, including mold and bacteria particles, from growing back. It’s similar to “the way light shines on a solar cell and generates electricity,” says Jaya Rao, who co-founded the company alongside her brother, CEO Dilip Goswami, and father, Dr. Yogi Goswami, who heads the Clean Energy Research Center at the University of South Florida. Although the price—nearly $800, plus $99 per year for new filters—has raised some eyebrows, proponents argue that the improved air quality is worth it. Investors are making the same bet: Molekule has raised almost $15 million to date.

Yogi went to school in Delhi and got his BS degree in mechanical engineering from what was then Delhi College of Engineering (now Delhi Technological University).