Advancing Indoor Air Purification by Mass Transfer Enhancement: Bridging the Gap Between High-Performance Materials and Technologies

Indoor air purification, as a typical gas–solid interface process, involves the transfer of airborne pollutants to purification material surfaces through mass transfer, enabling their removal. While research on indoor air purification materials has expanded remarkably, studies on enhancing mass transfer have been relatively limited. In this work, we proposed a new concept of “integration of mass transfer and material regulation,” aiming to provide a design methodology for indoor air purification. Taking solid-phase particulate matter (PM) filtration and gas-phase pollutant adsorption as examples, we summarized the novel approach that shifts from passive material usage to active control of mass transfer through multiscale (milli–micro–nano) and multifield (mass–flow–force). For PM removal, the external electric force can enhance the migration velocity of PM towards the fiber approximately fivefold, resulting in 1−3 orders of magnitude higher comprehensive quality factor than commercial filters, considering filtration efficiency, pressure drop, and energy consumption. For gas removal, the hierarchical structure can increase the gas–solid contact area by 58%, resulting in a 37% improvement in single-pass removal efficiency and a 152% enhancement in dynamic adsorption capacity. We bridge the gap between high-performance materials and technologies by providing a design methodology for controlling surface forces and structures to improve mass transfer.