The Nanomaterials Division focuses on three research areas namely; Filtration, Diagnostics and Speciality Chemicals.

Filtration Technologies
In Botswana water quality becomes a challenge the further from urban centres you go. BITRI will fabricate filter materials aimed at purifying water for rural areas of the country to guarantee people a safe, clean source of drinking water. From there, BITRI will develop a series of filtration products in the areas of water and air filtration to benefit the mining, health and military sectors of Botswana.

Diagnostic Technologies

Diseases that affect human and animal health end up affecting the economy of Botswana. In most cases diagnosing these diseases requires samples to be collected and transported great distances to central testing facilities under extreme weather conditions. These central laboratories are often overwhelmed with huge number of samples to test, resulting in backlogs and long turnaround times that can render results meaningless.

To address the needs of Batswana, BITRI is developing point-of-use diagnostic test kits in key areas of animal and human health. This will enable rapid sample screening, reduce backlogs in central laboratories and above all help to manage both animal and human health in Botswana.

Specialty Chemicals

Botswana is richly endowed with mineral resources. The country has large deposits of copper, soda-ash and coal among others. However, despite the abundance of such minerals, Botswana is not deriving meaningful benefit from its mineral reserves as the country has been exporting some of its minerals in the raw form. BITRI has initiated a project that will allow Botswana to leverage its mineral wealth though beneficiation.

Mineral beneficiation means adding value to mineral before exporting. The project will transform commodity minerals into finished products that have high sales value.