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Nanotubes Form The Darkest Material Yet Created

Posted by samzenpus on from the none-more-black dept.

toxcspdrmn writes "Bad news for Spinal Tap fans. The BBC reports that researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, have produced the darkest known material by manufacturing "forests" of carbon nanotubes. This forms a surface that absorbs or scatters 99.9% of all incidental light."

4 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. wouldn't scattered light still be light? by XaXXon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    wouldn't it just be less 'mirror-like' and more matte if it scatters light? In order to be black from all angles, it would have to absorb all the energy. ?

  2. That's incident light, and asymptotic to boot by Ancient_Hacker · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Um, although this thing is by some measure "three times blacker", that's no big deal, in an energy absorption sense.

    It just means instead of using cheap carbon black, 99.6% blac, you use expensive and fragile nanotubes, 99.9% black.

    Not a significant increase in energy absorption, and not economical either.

  3. Re:Don't tell John Carmack! by jank1887 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    please never ever again mention the film.

  4. Re:Don't tell John Carmack! by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What film? There was no film.

    --
    ... I'm addicted to placebos