Ben Franklin client XiGo Nanotools won the 2011 first-place gold award in Analytical Instrument Industrial Design from Instrument Business Outlook (IBO), a semi-monthly industrial newsletter. Strategic Directions International, Inc., publisher of the newsletter, is the world’s leading information source for life science instrumentation for laboratory and on-site applications. XiGo is a resident company at Ben Franklin TechVentures®.

XiGo manufactures the Acorn Area, a patented, shoebox-size device that rapidly measures the wetted surface area of nano-particles using magnetic resonance. Nano-particles are minute; they typically have diameters that are 1/1,000th the diameter of a human hair. Measuring the wetted surface area of nano-particle directly relates to product performance in many industrial applications including energy, electronics, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals. Nanoparticle properties are key predictors of material performance, and currently there are no efficient methods to measure wetted nano-particle surface area.

Award candidates were selected from the new products that IBO monitors through trade shows, trade publications, and media releases. Award winners were chosen based on their industrial design, aesthetics, functionality, and features.