The blackest black is here! World's darkest material now accessible in spray-on form

(Image for representational purposes only)

New Delhi: When we say black, how many shades are we talking about? What is the darkest black can get? Well, we have access to the knowledge!

If you love black, then this one's for you! The world's darkest material which can make any 3D object look like a flat black void, is now available in a spray-on form!

Not only that, the material is capable of absorbing 99.96 percent of ultraviolet, visible and infrared light.

Called Vantablack, the material came into being when it was first created by researchers in 2014. However, since its initial development, researchers have increased the material's blackness.

The material was so black no spectrometer was able to measure how much light Vantablack absorbs, according to the researchers.

The new variation, known as Vantablack S-VIS, is not a paint, pigment or fabric, but a special coating designed to achieve a near total lack of reflectance, according to Surrey NanoSystems, the UK-based company that produces Vantablack.

Vantablack achieves its supreme blackness through millions of carbon nanotubes, the 'Live Science' reported.

Each nanotube of the coating is around 20 nanometres in diameter – about 3,500 times smaller than the width of a human hair - and around 14 microns to 50 microns long. This amounts to about one billion nanotubes on a surface area of one centimetre square.

When light hits this nanotube "forest," it enters the microscopic spaces amid the tubes and is rapidly absorbed as it bounces between them. The almost perfectly black, light-void surface is created because of the material's near-total lack of reflectance.

Vantablack may have a diverse range of applications including high-performance infrared cameras, sensors, scientific instruments, satellite-borne calibration sources, and even to provide a unique aesthetic effect in certain high-end luxury products.

Its ability to absorb light energy and convert it to heat is also of relevance in solar power development.

(With PTI inputs)