BNNano patent granted, trademarking the Boron Nitride NanoBarb™  

                                                               City of Burlington

Economic Development Department

On August 10, 2022, BNNano announced that their patent application for the Boron Nitride NanoBarb™ was granted. This unique design allows the NanoBarb™ to “optimize the interlock with matrix materials,” minimizing contact area between particles and maximizing its already impressive reinforcing properties. As of the beginning of August, the company had shipped over 10 quadrillion (that’s 16 zeros!) Boron Nitride NanoBarbs™ in 2022. 

Based in Burlington, NC, BNNano, Inc. is currently the only company in the world that can manufacture Boron Nitride Nanotubes on a commercially viable level. The company works to transform industrial commodity materials through advanced manufacturing, which can then be applied to anything from water purification to aerospace, fire prevention to life sciences.

The NanoBarb™ is a modification of a nanotube – typically a one-dimensional tube of nanomaterial known for its strength, thermal conductivity, and stiffness – that has a surface design made of, as the name suggests, Boron Nitride. It is 100 times stronger than steel and nontoxic, and can sell for more than 60 times the price of gold. 

Nanotechnology, as explained by BNNano themselves, is the science and engineering of researching, innovating, and building materials at an atomic and molecular scale. Modern nanoscience began in the 1980s, with history stretching back to 1959. When the nanotechnology is effectively implemented, it has the potential to be energy efficient, use less raw materials, environmentally clean, and improve the materials being used in respective industries, thus increasing efficiency.

Image Sources: BNNano

Isabella DeLaGarza, EYOS Fellow

City Contact
Isabella DeLaGarza
425 S. Lexington Ave. 
Burlington, NC 27215
idelagarza@burlingtonnc.gov
burlingtonnc.gov/ed