The world's darkest material gets even darker, defying spectrometers which are unable to quantify its blackness. The nanotechnology company Surrey NanoSystem (SNS) announced that they made a new darker version of Vantablack.
Vantablack is the darkest and blackest material ever invented in the planet. It was first released by the company in 2014 with carbon nanotubes capable of absorbing 99.96 percent of visual light, setting a new world record. Now, the firm has outdone itself and developed the new version of the material.
In a YouTube video, the researchers demonstrated the new material they developed. The blackness of Vantablack is so dense that it confounds the eye.
"It resulted in a coating so black that our spectrometers can't measure it!" a team member in the video explained.
"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," he added.
What Is Vantablack?
This material is the new black simply because it is blacker than all previous blacks known to man. It is made primarily of carbon nanotubes so thin it is like the size of a hair strand split 10,000 times.
"Vantablack is a major breakthrough by UK industry in the application of nanotechnology to optical instrumentation," said Ben Jensen, Chief Technology Officer, Surrey NanoSystems in a statement in 2014.
"For example, it reduces stray-light, improving the ability of sensitive telescopes to see the faintest stars, and allows the use of smaller, lighter sources in space-borne black body calibration systems. Its ultra-low reflectance improves the sensitivity of terrestrial, space and air-borne instrumentation", he added.
What Is It For?
This material has the highest thermal conductivity and lowest mass-volume which can be used in a wide range of high-emissivity applications.
It is generally used to limit unwanted stray light from ultraviolet rays for many applications including infrared cameras, scientific equipment, sensors, satellite-borne calibration sources and provide aesthetic effect in luxury products. Since it absorbs light energy, it could be used in solar power development. The material, however, is not yet sold to the public and all sales are handled by the company in the United Kingdom.
