Scientists spent more than two years in the development of the world's darkest material, Vantablack.
Scientists at the U.K.'s Surrey NanoSystems have developed a new material called Vantablack, which is the world's darkest form of black ever achieved. The new 'super black' material will be launched at the Farnborough International Air Show.
Surrey NanoSystems announced Vantablack last week, explaining how the scientists at the British company's lab were able to develop the darkest known material. ExtremeTech defines Vantablack as "staring into a black hole." The material absorbs all but 0.035 percent of the light thrown at it, which is the highest ever recorded.
Vantablack is a result of more than two years of experiments. It is created using the company's patented low-temperature carbon nanotube growth process. It is made up of carbon nanotubes on an aluminum foil. Each tube is about thousand times thinner than the average human hair, and so small that it prevents light from entering and so densely packed that it absorbs the light if it penetrates between the tubes. The material can absorb most forms of radiations and makes it impossible to escape.
Putting that in perspective, the scientists described Vantablack as 99.965 percent radiation absorbant, which means only 0.035 percent of radiation is reflected.
"Many people think black is the absence of light. I totally disagree with that. Unless you are looking at a black hole, nobody has actually seen something which has no light," Stephen Westland, professor of color science and technology at Leeds University who wasn't a part of the study, told Independent. "These new materials, they are pretty much as black as we can get, almost as close to a black hole as we could imagine."
Vantablack, with its dark nature, has a promising use in various fields in space and military, CTO of Surrey NanoSystems, Ben Jensen noted. The material is best suitable for stealth aircrafts, weapons, and other military uses. Also, it can be used inside telescopes and other imaging devices to reduce noise and get better range and resolution, Extreme Tech reported.
