Scientists from the King Abdullah University of Technology in Saudi Arabia have invented the blackest material based on gold, which has absorption properties of 98.43% of the visible and infrared spectrum. Details of the scientific work are published on the pages of the profile publication Nature Nanotechnology.
The researchers said that the idea to start development came from the whitest beetle in the world, Cyphochilus, on the structure of the elytra of which they relied on during the creation of their blackest material. The experts took as a basis gold nanoparticles, which are spheres with a rod. Such elements provide the main property of the material. According to physicists, thanks to this technology, it becomes possible to create materials without restrictions on the percentage of absorption. Experts do not exclude the possibility of creating a paint that can "dissolve" in itself all 100% of the light.
In their studies, scientists used a very thin layer - 10.2 micrometers, in which the percentage of light absorption was 98.43%. Moreover, when the viewing angle was changed by 60 degrees, the absorption reached 99.7%.
Daria Romanyuk