ApNano Materials is a private company incorporated in the US in 2002. The company was granted an exclusive license by Yeda Research and Development Co. Ltd., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, (www.weizmann.ac.il) to manufacture, commercialize and sell unique nanotechnology products based on a new class of inorganic nanostructures discovered by the Institute's Nanomaterials Synthesis Group, headed by Professor Reshef Tenne (www.weizmann.ac.il/materials/msg).

Before the group's discovery it was thought that such particles, called fullerenes, could only be made with carbon atoms. The Weizmann group was the first to show that various inorganic compounds could also be synthesized into fullerene-like structures. These materials have excellent Trioboligical properties, in terms of reducing friction and wear and can be used as additives to oils and greases, as part of composite materials, as coatings. They also show great properties in terms of impact resistance (with the ability to withstand high shock and impact pressure) and have applications in ballistics and armour.