Zirconia (ZrO₂) based dental ceramics have been considered to be advantageous materials with adequate mechanical properties for the manufacturing of medical devices.

Borate glasses are the technologically important class of glasses and play a significant role in various applications. Borate glasses contain planar BO₃groups as structural units, rather than tetrahedral SiO₄groups. The oxygen atoms are, as in SiO₂, again connected to two network-forming atoms, in case of boron. The radial distribution analysis describes the B₂O₃glass structure as consisting of boroxol rings, that is, planar rings containing three boron atoms and three oxygen atoms. The network forming of the B₂O₃and the SiO₄is affected with the addition of some metal cation additives Pb, Zn, Cd, and so forth. These additives also work as a network modifier and a nucleating agent for crystallization of glass. Therefore, the optical properties of the borate glasses have been changed significantly.

Synthesis methods for the exfoliation of BNNSs and BNNS functionalization methods are reviewed.