Vantablack 2: the blackest material on earth cannot be measured with a spectrometer

Vantablack Coated Aluminum Foil

In 2014, the British company Surrey NanoSystems manufactured Vantablack material from nanotubes with a record low reflectance of 0.036% in the visible range. If you shine a powerful laser pointer at it, the spot of light just disappears, as in a black hole. The material is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the blackest substance made by man.

Now scientists have improved the material. Unfortunately, they are still unable to report the characteristics: the new coating Vantablack 2 is not measurable by any spectrometer.


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Scientists suggest that the material will find application in the space industry and the military industry. For example, such a coating can be used for stealth aircraft, for calibrating telescopes and infrared scanners, in cameras, sensors, scientific equipment, and even to create an aesthetic effect in expensive luxury items, consider the inventors.

Vantablack effectively absorbs electromagnetic radiation not only in the visible range, but also in the ultraviolet and infrared. So far, there is no detailed information about the new material, only a video taken by Surrey NanoSystems engineers immediately after the material is removed from the furnace. Nanotubes are grown in the Chemical Vapor Deposition Chamber at 430ºC or higher.



The first version of Vantablack coating was made from nanotubes 20 nanometers long. Approximately 1 billion nanotubes were placed per square centimeter of coverage. The company also developed a version of the Vantablack S-VIS coating, which can be applied as a spray - it can be called the blackest paint in the world, although the reflection coefficient of paint is higher than that of the original coating.

In October 2015, the creation of material with a record low reflectivity in the visible and infrared light (also based on carbon nanotubes) was announced by researchers from Saudi Arabia. The structure of the material allows you to absorb about 98-99% of electromagnetic radiation in the visible and IR ranges, namely, with a wavelength of 400 to 1400 nm, and at any angle and with any polarization of light.

Sales of Vantablack are carried out by Surrey NanoSystems in the UK only to legal entities. Export restrictions may apply.