Vantablack Rivals: The Quest for the Darkest Material

When a material absorbs nearly all visible light, it stops looking like a physical object and starts looking like a hole in the universe. While Vantablack made headlines a decade ago for this exact visual effect, material scientists have quietly moved past it. Today, engineers are developing new ultra-black coatings that absorb even more light, specifically to help deep-space telescopes capture the faintest signals in the galaxy.

The Original Benchmark: What is Vantablack?

To understand the newest ultra-black materials, you first have to look at the coating that started the modern race. Surrey NanoSystems introduced Vantablack to the public in 2014. It quickly became famous for its ability to absorb 99.965 percent of visible light.

Vantablack is not actually a paint. The name stands for Vertically Aligned Nanotube Arrays Black. It is created by growing a forest of microscopic carbon nanotubes on a surface. These tubes are so incredibly small and packed so tightly together that light particles (photons) enter the material but cannot escape. Instead of bouncing back to your eye, the light bounces around inside the tube matrix until it dissipates as heat.

While Vantablack was revolutionary, it sparked controversy in the art world when sculptor Anish Kapoor bought the exclusive rights to use it in artistic applications. This exclusivity, combined with the extreme heat required to manufacture the original Vantablack, pushed other scientists and inventors to find alternative solutions.

The New Champion: MIT's Accidental Discovery

The current record holder for the darkest material on Earth is not Vantablack. In 2019, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced they had created a material that is ten times darker than Surrey NanoSystems’ famous coating. The MIT material absorbs a staggering 99.995 percent of incoming light from every angle.

Interestingly, MIT engineering professor Brian Wardle and his team did not set out to break the record. They were experimenting with ways to grow carbon nanotubes on electrically conductive materials like aluminum to boost their thermal properties. Aluminum naturally forms an oxide layer when exposed to air, which acts as an insulator. To fix this, the team soaked aluminum foil in a saltwater bath to etch away the oxide layer using chlorine ions.

When they grew carbon nanotubes on this treated aluminum at 400 degrees Celsius, they noticed the resulting material was exceptionally black. Optical testing confirmed its record-breaking absorption. To showcase the discovery, the MIT team collaborated with artist Diemut Strebe. They coated a 16.78-carat yellow diamond valued at $2 million with the new material. The brilliant gemstone instantly disappeared, looking like a flat, black void.

Why Deep Space Telescopes Need Extreme Black

While coating diamonds makes for a great art exhibit, the true value of these ultra-black materials lies in aerospace engineering. Modern telescopes are incredibly sensitive, and they have a massive problem with stray light.

When instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope or ground-based observatories look for distant exoplanets, they are trying to see a tiny, faint speck of light next to a massive, blindingly bright star. If any stray light reflects off the internal components of the telescope barrel or the optical housing, it can completely wash out the image.

Ultra-black coatings solve this problem by:

• Suppressing Stray Light: Coating the inside of telescope baffles stops off-axis light from bouncing into the camera sensors.
• Improving Star Trackers: Spacecraft use cameras called star trackers to navigate by looking at constellations. Black coatings around the camera lenses ensure the stars stand out against the blackness of space without interference from the sun.
• Enhancing Contrast: Lowering the noise floor in optical instruments allows sensors to operate at peak efficiency.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has been actively developing its own carbon nanotube coatings specifically because standard black paints (like the Z306 paint used on the Hubble Space Telescope) only absorb about 90 to 96 percent of light.

Durability: The Next Frontier in Space Coatings

The biggest problem with pure carbon nanotube arrays is their fragility. If you touch an untreated ultra-black nanotube surface, the microscopic tubes collapse. For space missions, materials must survive the violent vibrations of a rocket launch, extreme temperature shifts, and exposure to atomic oxygen in orbit.

Material scientists are currently focused on making these ultra-black coatings tough. In early 2024, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a study detailing a new ultra-black coating designed specifically for magnesium alloys, which are heavily used in aerospace due to their low weight. By using an intricate micro-arc oxidation process, they created a ceramic-like black surface that absorbs over 99.3 percent of light while remaining highly resistant to friction and extreme space conditions.

Similarly, companies like NanoLab have developed products like Singularity Black, a carbon nanotube-based coating that is mixed into a binder. While slightly less dark than pure, lab-grown nanotubes, it is significantly more durable and can be applied to complex shapes, making it highly practical for aerospace manufacturing.

Ultra-Black Materials for Everyday Consumers

The race for the darkest material has also spilled into the commercial sector. Because Vantablack and the MIT materials require high-heat laboratory conditions, everyday artists and hobbyists cannot use them. This gap in the market led to the development of highly accessible acrylic paints.

• Black 3.0 and Black 4.0: Created by British artist Stuart Semple in direct response to the Vantablack monopoly, these acrylic paints absorb up to 99.95 percent of visible light. They are entirely matte and can be applied with a regular paintbrush.
• Musou Black: Developed by Koyo Orient Japan, this water-based acrylic paint absorbs 99.4 percent of light. It is widely used by photographers, miniature painters, and designers who need maximum light absorption without a laboratory setup.

Whether it is a multi-million dollar space telescope hunting for new Earths or an artist painting a canvas, the pursuit of absolute black continues to push the boundaries of materials science.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the darkest material ever made? The darkest material currently known was developed by MIT researchers in 2019. It is made of carbon nanotubes grown on chlorine-etched aluminum foil and absorbs 99.995 percent of visible light.

Can I buy Vantablack to paint my car or walls? No. Vantablack is not a traditional paint that you can buy in a can, and it requires high temperatures to apply. Furthermore, the exclusive rights to use Vantablack in art are held by artist Anish Kapoor. However, you can buy extremely dark commercial paints like Musou Black or Black 4.0.

Why do ultra-black materials look like a flat hole? Human vision relies heavily on light reflecting off the contours and textures of an object to understand its 3D shape and depth. When a material absorbs almost all light, there are no shadows or highlights for your brain to process. As a result, the object appears entirely two-dimensional.

Are carbon nanotubes safe to handle? Loose carbon nanotubes can pose respiratory risks similar to asbestos if inhaled. However, when used in commercial paints or bound tightly to a solid substrate like a telescope baffle, they are secure and do not pose a danger to users.