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Scientists Invent Blackest Material Ever
Wired Science reports:
Scientists have fashioned what may be the blackest material in the universe: a sheet of carbon nanotubes that captures nearly every last photon of every wavelength of light. The substance absorbs between 97 percent and 99 percent of wavelengths that can be directly measured or extrapolated. It’s the closest that scientists have yet come to a “black body,” a theorized state of perfect absorption. To the naked eye, the substance appears perfectly flat [even though] it’s a sheet of deep holes.
By comparison, the blackest paints and coatings merely absorb between 84 and 95 percent of all light. Researchers say the material would be useful in solar panels or to collect heat in the frigid vacuum of space.
