Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a material that they claim is 10 times blacker than anything that has previously been reported.
The material is made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, or CNTs — microscopic filaments of carbon that the team grew on a surface of chlorine-etched aluminum foil.
The foil captures more than 99.96% of any incoming light, making it the blackest material on record, according to a study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces .
Space applications
The material may be useful in optical blinders that reduce unwanted glare or to help space telescopes spot orbiting exoplanets, said Brian Wardle, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.
