Physics engineers from the British company Surrey Nanosystems presented their new development - a unique material called Vantablack, which is considered the darkest in the world. According to the developers, it absorbs almost all light, except for a negligible 0.035%, which are reflected from its surface. This interesting property makes Vantablack completely invisible and only objects around it can be seen.
Despite the roughness of the surface, we don't even see them
Video under the cut …
The scientific press has already dubbed the material an artificial black hole. Of course, Vantablack does not possess such a powerful gravity as a real dead star, but with light it does the same thing as cosmic black holes - it absorbs and does not release. Another interesting feature of the new material is that, even being curved, from the side it still seems flat, because all the curves are completely invisible to the eye.
“When the Vantablack is flexed, the observer expects to see dents and wrinkles, but instead sees the illusion of a completely dark hole in space,” said study co-author Ben Jensen, who is also CTO at Surrey Nanosystems.
Attempts to create an absolutely dark material have already been made more than once. So, in 2008, a team from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presented material that reflected only 0.045% of light waves, but the developers from Surrey Nanosystems managed to break this record.
The name of the material comes from the phrase Vertically Aligned NanoTube Arrays (Vertically aligned arrays of nanotubes) and the word black (black).
Promotional video:
The special properties of the material are reflected in its name. The first two syllables of Vanta are an acronym for vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays, meaning "vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays." Scientists have grown carbon nanotubes in a laboratory on aluminum foil at low temperatures. They turn out to be tightly packed together, which allows light to penetrate inside, but very small amounts - mainly ultraviolet, infrared and microwave - are reflected from this "forest".
This super black material reduces stray light levels and is seven and a half times more conductive than copper and 10 times more durable than steel. Therefore, it has a lot of potential applications, including as a "invisibility cap" for military objects that need to be hidden.
It can also be used to coat the interior of highly sensitive telescopes designed to detect faint and distant objects. Finally, it can be used to improve the performance of solar panels and infrared sensors.
Micrograph of the Vantablack structure.
The blackest Vantablack® material is based on the Surrey NanoSystems' Vertically-Aligned Carbon Nanotube (VANTA) low-temperature synthesis process. Vantablack® coating deposition technique is suitable for a variety of materials with micron size and larger It can be easily combined with standard lithography techniques and allows, if necessary, to make complex patterns.
Previously, VANTA coatings could only be applied to expensive, bulky high-temperature alloys and heat-resistant materials such as silicon, so they could not be used for sensitive electronics or materials with a relatively low melting point. Vantablack®, the blackest coating material, is distinguished by the fact that it can be synthesized on many temperature-sensitive materials (such as aluminum), which are of great importance for terrestrial, air and space applications. Nanostructured Vantablack® is chemically inert, has high resistance to shock and vibration, and exhibits excellent stability when exposed to heat and the environment.
The blackest material is an array of vertical, closely spaced carbon nanotubes). This peculiar structure determines the unique properties of Vantablack®, since it is extremely difficult for light passing through the "crown" of such a nanocarbon "forest" to get out of this trap and be reflected from the surface of such material.
Vantablack® has the highest thermal conductivity and lowest mass-to-volume ratio of any material that can be used in high emissivity applications. It has virtually negligible degassing and particle emissions, thus eliminating a major source of contamination in sensitive imaging systems. It can withstand the mechanical stresses of a rocket launch as well as long-term vibrations and is ideal for lining internal components such as openings, baffles and MEMS (Micro Electromechanical Systems) optical sensors.
The blackest material has found practical application mainly in optical instrumentation: as reference sources of black body radiation in sensitive telescopes, satellite calibration systems, IR detectors and for suppressing interference from scattered radiation in optical systems. Vantablack® can also be used on military vehicles and armor, as it will make them virtually invisible, especially when used at night.