Nanexa gas barrier
Nanexa has a small scale production of efficient gas barriers for detectors designed to investigate the presence of radioactive xenon isotopes that arise only in the detonation of nuclear weapons.
Analysis equipment for detecting radioactive xenon isotopes is deployed around the globe by the CTBTO (Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization). Nanexa was hired to develop a gas barrier that prevents xenon gas from penetrating detectors used in this assay equipment.
Nanexa puts a 100 nanometer thick and completely dense alumina layer on the inside of the sensors tube using ALD. Alumina is permeable to beta and gamma radiation but impermeable to xenon gas, which is a prerequisite for the detection of radioactive xenon. The project has been successful and the surface is now being used on a large number of sensors worldwide.
Nanexa has developed a coating system for medical polymeric products that protect against fungal spreads, such as the common fungal genus Candida.
Fungal in-growth in a medical device may cause product breakdown, resulting in adverse consequences for the patient. Nanexa’s coating is not dependent on slow release of antimycotics or similar methods for direct treatment of candidiasis in a patient. Instead, the coating protects the polymeric material of the medicinal product from fungal in-growth.
The antifungal coating consists of two polymer layers, that is, an inner active layer having an antifungal effect and an outer protective layer that prevents depletion of the active inner layer. This method of using two layers, an active and a protective, enables the design of a product with outstanding protection from fungal attacks, but still has the excellent biocompatible properties of medical silicone which is usually the material of which the medical products consist of.