BARNICES Y PINTURAS MODERNAS SOCIEDAD ANONIMA

Their core work

Barnices y Pinturas Modernas is a Spanish SME that manufactures varnishes, paints, and industrial coatings. Within H2020, they serve as an end-user and application partner, integrating advanced materials — particularly graphene — into coating formulations. Their work bridges materials science and industrial coating applications, testing how graphene and bio-based additives can improve properties like corrosion resistance, fire retardancy, and antimicrobial performance in real commercial products.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

From 2018 to 2020, the company focused squarely on graphene integration through the Flagship programme, exploring how graphene composites could enhance coatings across energy, electronics, and sensor applications. Starting in 2021, a clear shift emerged toward sustainability and bio-based materials with the LIGNICOAT project, which replaces petrochemical coating ingredients with lignin-derived alternatives. This suggests the company is pivoting from pure advanced-materials exploration toward green chemistry and circular economy applications in coatings.

Moving from graphene-based material experimentation toward commercially viable sustainable coatings with functional properties (anticorrosion, antimicrobial), positioning themselves at the intersection of advanced materials and green chemistry.

How they like to work

Always a participant, never a coordinator — consistent with their role as an industrial end-user who validates and applies research outputs in real coating products. Their 231 unique partners across 21 countries is inflated by the massive Graphene Flagship consortia (150+ partners each), so this reflects the Flagship's network rather than their own. They are a specialist contributor embedded in large research programmes rather than a networking hub.

Connected to 231 partners across 21 countries, though this is largely driven by the enormous Graphene Flagship consortia. Their direct working relationships are likely with a smaller subset of materials science labs and industrial partners within those programmes.

What sets them apart

As a paints and coatings manufacturer participating directly in frontier materials research, they offer something rare: the ability to take lab-scale material innovations and test them in actual industrial coating formulations. For researchers developing new functional materials (graphene, lignin resins, antimicrobial additives), this company provides a direct path to real-world product validation. Their combination of graphene experience and bio-coatings work makes them a practical bridge between materials science and the coatings market.

Highlights from their portfolio

• LIGNICOAT
  Their largest funded project (EUR 239,265), and a strategic pivot into sustainable lignin-based coatings with anticorrosion, fire-retardant, and antimicrobial properties.
• GrapheneCore3
  Part of the EUR 1B+ Graphene Flagship — Europe's largest research initiative — giving them access to top graphene research groups and pilot-scale production infrastructure.
• 2D-EPL
  Focused on scaling 2D materials from lab to pilot line, directly relevant to industrializing graphene coatings.