Dark discovery

Scientists at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New york, have created a material so dark that it reflects only 0.045 percent of all light shined upon it, making it 100 times darker than the paint on a black car. The new material is made of sheets of Carbon rolled into microscopic tubes just one atom thick.

Researchers have spent years trying to create the ideal black material, which absorbs all the colors of light and reflects none of them. An alloy of Nickel and Phosphorus developed in London, England, in 2003, reflected 0.16 percent of light, but that was bettered in 2008 by the American team led by Dr. Pulickel Ajayan and Professor Shawn Lin.

Choosing Carbon – one of nature’s darkest materials – as their base, they built a “forest” of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, hollow cylinders made entirely of carbon atoms. Each nanotube measured about one-hundredth of an inch long – and that was 300,000 times greater than its width! After a year of experimentation, they found that the complex setup reflected only a tiny fraction of light. It is hoped that by absorbing nearly all light, the new material could be used in the collection and storage of solar energy. As it reflects very little, it could also help to improve optical instruments such as telescopes.