With people spending much of their time indoors, exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an important consideration for indoor air quality. While conventional air purifiers may not fully remove VOCs, plants offer a potential nature-based alternative. The Living Filter investigates whether pairing commercially available indoor plants with VOC-degrading microbes can enhance their ability to remove key indoor pollutants while remaining safe, practical and accessible for household use.

The team systematically evaluated different plant–microbe combinations, first identifying two promising plants —Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) and Silver Brake Fern (Pteris argyraea) — before pairing them with selected VOC-degrading microbes. Experiments were then conducted to determine which biological pairing delivered the strongest VOC-removal performance.

The study identified Silver Brake Fern paired with Bacillus subtilis as the top-performing combination, achieving 73% better performance after 12 hours of VOC exposure and 186% better performance after 24 hours. In comparison, Spider Plant paired with Trichoderma viride performed better over 12 hours but became less effective after 24 hours. These findings demonstrate how understanding the biological compatibility between plants and microorganisms could help optimise living, nature-based filtration systems for improving indoor air quality.