Back when Surrey NanoSystems introduced Vantablack, the darkest material ever invented, back in 2014, the material was said to be capable of absorbing 99.96 percent of light. Now the company announced last week that they have made Vantablack even darker, although due to the ineffectiveness of spectrometry measurements, they're not quite sure just how much darker.
"It's resulted in a coating so black that our spectrometers can't measure it!" the team said. "Even running a high power laser pointer across it barely reflects anything back to the viewer. We have never before made a material so 'black' that it can't be picked up on our spectrometers in the infrared."
Vantablack is created through the growth of carbon nanotubes on aluminum-based surfaces. Until the release of the unique material, the creation of super black materials required processes that were not only were costly but needed extremely high temperatures. In contrast, Vantablack was manufactured using low temperatures.
So what exactly is the purpose of a super black material? These kinds of materials have the potential to help in applications where stray light is not ideal, such as telescopes used to measure stars that are difficult to see. A material like Vantablack can eliminate stray light and increase the visibility of such stars.
When light hits the carbon nanotubes that make up Vantablack, it is absorbed almost instantly, bouncing between them and rendered unable to escape.
"The near total lack of reflectance creates an almost perfect black surface," the team said. "To understand this effect, try to visualize walking through a forest in which the trees are around 3 kilometers tall instead of the usual 10 to 20 meters. It's easy to imagine just how little light, if any, would reach you."
Super black materials could also help laser projection and solar energy technologies, among others. Interestingly, Vantablack is now being used in art as well, although only by one sculptor, Anish Kapoor, who bought the exclusive rights to the material. The move has upset numerous artists in the field, with some calling the move immoral.
The Surrey NanoSystems team lists all of the potential applications of the unique material on their website.
The following video shows Vantablack absorbing light from a laser that passes over the material.
The next video shows Vantablack being passed over two other materials that appear to be black.
