Introduction
Humans have long been fascinated by the darkest possible color – a material so black that it absorbs virtually all light. Traditionally, the blackest pigments (like carbon blacks or soot) absorb a lot of light, but nothing compares to the ultra-black materials developed in recent years. These new substances can absorb over 99.9% of incoming light, making three-dimensional objects appear as utterly flat voids with no features . This report explores the science behind the darkest known materials (often dubbed “blacker than black”), their composition and structure, and how they achieve such extreme light absorption. We will look at notable examples – from the infamous Vantablack to cutting-edge successors – comparing their darkness levels and uses in art, science, and technology. We’ll also discuss record-breaking developments and what these ultra-black materials mean for human perception, aesthetics, and stealth technology.
How Ultra-Black Materials Trap Light
Creating an ultra-black material isn’t as simple as using a dark pigment; it requires structural tricks at the microscopic or nanoscopic level. The darkest coatings are typically engineered surfaces that trap and dissipate light rather than reflect it. A prime example is Vantablack, which is made of a forest of vertical carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown on a substrate . Each nanotube is incredibly thin (on the order of tens of nanometers in diameter) and tall – imagine a fuzzy thicket of tiny trees. When light enters this forest, it bounces between the tubes and gets absorbed as heat, instead of escaping back out . In fact, the nanotube structure is about 99% empty space, so photons are effectively swallowed into the void until they dissipate .
Part of a crumpled aluminum foil coated with Vantablack appears completely black and featureless, as the coating absorbs ~99.96% of light and hides all wrinkles . The ultra-black nanotube surface traps incoming light like a maze, erasing depth and texture.
Other approaches use similar light-trapping principles. Some black coatings rely on microtextured surfaces (like tiny pits or cones) that gradually change the refractive index, minimizing reflection by bending light inward. An example is black silicon, where laser-etched needle-like structures on silicon dramatically reduce its reflectivity by guiding light into the material. Yet, even black silicon (used in solar cells and sensors) only brings reflectance down to a few percent – impressive, but not in the same league as the new ultra-blacks. More exotic methods involve nanoparticle arrangements: for instance, a metamaterial made from gold nanoparticles called “dark chameleon dimers” was reported to absorb over 99% of visible light across the spectrum by using plasmonic effects to trap light. Regardless of the method, the goal is the same: create a light trap so effective that almost no photon escapes.
Vantablack: Pioneering the Super-Black
One of the first modern breakthroughs in ultra-black materials was Vantablack, unveiled in 2014 by Surrey NanoSystems in the UK. Vantablack (a name derived from Vertically Aligned Nanotube Arrays + black) set a record at the time by absorbing up to 99.965% of visible light under perpendicular illumination . In practical terms, Vantablack reflects only about 0.035% of light – essentially near-total darkness. It is a CNT array coating grown via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on surfaces like aluminum foil. Light hitting a Vantablack-coated surface is trapped between millions of nanotubes and repeatedly deflected until it dissipates as heat . This coating is so black that it’s described as “the closest thing to a black hole we can observe” on Earth, visually obliterating any sense of shape or depth . Even when applied to a crinkled, reflective surface like aluminum foil, Vantablack renders the entire surface flat and featureless, as if a piece of two-dimensional darkness has been laid over it .
Originally developed for aerospace and defense applications (e.g. to reduce stray light in telescopes or to coat sensitive instruments), Vantablack’s extreme properties quickly captured the public imagination . In art and design circles it became notorious when sculptor Anish Kapoor acquired exclusive rights to use the material in art in 2016 . This led to outcry from other artists, since Vantablack’s unique optical effect – making 3D objects look like absolute voids – had huge creative allure. (We’ll return to the artistic saga in a later section.) Technologically, Vantablack’s inventors also developed spray-applied versions (VBx coatings) that, while slightly less absorbing, could coat larger areas and complex shapes . Interestingly, the spray version was reported to be so black that no standard spectrometer could measure its reflectance, meaning its absorption might rival or exceed the original CVD Vantablack .
It’s worth noting that Vantablack isn’t the only carbon-nanotube super-black. NASA, for instance, had independently developed a similar CNT coating earlier (grown at higher temperature) to absorb >99% of light from ultraviolet through far-infrared . What Vantablack did was optimize the process to grow nanotubes at lower temperatures and with less contamination, making it more practical for real-world components . In any case, Vantablack became the reference point for “blackest black” – at least until newer challengers emerged.
Beyond Vantablack: Newer Alternatives and Record Breakers
Researchers did not stop at 99.965% absorption. In 2019, a team at MIT (led by Brian Wardle and Kehang Cui) accidentally discovered an even darker material while experimenting with CNT growth on aluminum. By growing CNTs on a chlorine-etched aluminum foil, they produced a coating that captured at least 99.995% of incoming light . In other words, this material reflects only 0.005% or less of light – 10× darker than Vantablack’s reflectance . It currently holds the record as the darkest material ever reported . To showcase this ultrablack coating, the MIT team collaborated with artist Diemut Strebe in an exhibit titled “The Redemption of Vanity.” They coated a 16.78-carat natural yellow diamond (worth $2 million) with the CNT material, turning the normally sparkling gem into what looks like a flat black void . Observers described the effect as disorienting – the diamond lost all its facets and appeared as a black hole in space. This dramatic demonstration underlined how human perception is confounded when virtually all light is removed from an object; we lose all visual cues of shape, gloss, and texture because the eye perceives almost nothing but emptiness .
Meanwhile, other alternatives to Vantablack have been developed – some for broader scientific use, others spurred by the art community’s desire for a black coating available to everyone. One notable example is Singularity Black, a sprayable paint developed by NanoLab (a Massachusetts-based company) in 2017. It was developed in part with NASA for telescope components and then offered to artists as a Vantablack alternative . Singularity Black is also formulated with carbon nanotubes and absorbs about 98.5% of visible light (typical matte black paint, by contrast, absorbs only ~80%) . At ~1.5% reflectance, it’s not quite as dark as Vantablack, but still extremely black – enough to make wrinkles and contours nearly disappear when an object is coated . Boston artist Jason Chase, who helped introduce Singularity Black, demonstrated this by painting a little black dress with it: the dress’s folds became almost invisible, creating an uncanny “2D” look .
The Vantablack exclusivity controversy also spurred artist Stuart Semple in the UK to create his own line of super-black paints. In 2019 he released Black 3.0, an acrylic paint described as “the blackest, mattest paint in the known universe” that anyone (except Kapoor, per Semple’s playful legal stipulation) could use . Black 3.0 isn’t nanotube-based, but through a special mix of pigments and transparent mattifiers it claims to absorb between 98% and 99% of visible light . Tests showed it’s extremely matte and dark for a brush-on paint, though still a notch below the nanotube coatings (Vantablack’s ~99.96% absorption) . Building on that, Semple and other companies have continued to refine artist-grade blacks – even a Black 4.0 has been advertised, aiming for 99%+ absorption . Similarly, in Japan, a company developed Musou Black, a water-based paint that absorbs up to 99.4% of visible light (with airbrushed application) . Musou Black became popular among photographers and designers as “the blackest paint available to the public,” making it possible to turn objects or backgrounds nearly pitch black with just a few coats .
Another fascinating approach to ultra-black comes from the field of metamaterials. Researchers at KAUST in Saudi Arabia created the aforementioned “dark chameleon dimers,” a coating made of specialized gold nanostructures. This material earned a spot in the Guinness World Records as the darkest man-made substance, absorbing more than 99% of light across the entire visible spectrum . Rather than nanotubes, it uses a mix of gold nanorods and nanospheres arranged to trap light via plasmons (collective electron oscillations). In essence, it’s a tunable plasmonic black that can be thought of as an “anti-reflection cloak” inspired by structures in nature (the researchers were inspired by ultra-reflective beetle shells and asked the inverse question – how to make something ultra-absorptive) . While this metamaterial is still experimental, it represents a non-carbon route to extreme blackness.
The table below compares some of the major ultra-black materials discussed, highlighting their darkness level, what they’re made of, and typical use cases:
| Material | Approx. Light Absorption (Visible) | Composition / Structure | Notable Uses |
| Vantablack (Surrey Nanosystems, 2014) | ~99.96% of light absorbed (≲0.04% reflectance) | Vertically aligned carbon nanotube array (CVD-grown) . | Scientific instruments (telescopes, infrared cameras), aerospace (satellite baffles), art installations (limited by license) . |
| MIT “ultrablack” CNT coating (2019) | ≥99.995% of light absorbed (≈0.005% reflectance) | Vertically aligned CNT forest on etched aluminum foil . | Art demonstration (coated $2M diamond to appear invisible), potential optical sensors and telescope applications . |
| Singularity Black (NanoLab, 2017) | ~98.5% of light absorbed (∼1.5% reflectance) | Sprayable paint with dispersed carbon nanotubes . | Telescope and camera components (reducing glare), available to artists for ultra-black paintings and sculptures . |
| Black 3.0 (Stuart Semple, 2019) | 98–99% of light absorbed (max) (∼1% reflectance) | Acrylic polymer paint with high pigment load + matte flatteners . | Artistic applications (accessible “black hole” paint for artworks, prototypes, cosplay), coating objects for visual effects. |
| Musou Black (Koyo Orient, 2020) | up to 99.4% light absorbed (airbrushed) (~0.6% reflectance) | Acrylic paint with ultra-high black pigment concentration (water-based). | Art, design, photography (e.g. lining photo studios, making ultra-black backgrounds or props), hobbyist use (e.g. model coating). |
| “Dark Chameleon” coating (KAUST, ~2019) | >99% of light absorbed (broadband) | Disordered gold nanoparticle network (“dimers”) – a plasmonic metamaterial. | Experimental; proposed for use in sensors, photothermal therapy, and potentially adaptive camouflage (still in research phase) . |
Table: A comparison of several ultra-black materials, listing their darkness (percentage of light absorbed), what they’re made of, and how/where they are used. Sources: absorption data from .
Applications in Art, Science, and Technology
Art and Design – Aesthetics of the Void: Ultra-black materials have opened new frontiers in art by allowing creators to experiment with pure darkness as a medium. Vantablack’s arrival led to high-profile art disputes – most famously, Anish Kapoor’s exclusive rights and the subsequent backlash that resulted in rival paints like Black 3.0 . Why are artists so eager for the blackest black? Because coating a sculpture or surface in such a material produces an otherworldly effect: all sense of shape or form disappears, and the object looks like a silhouette or a hole cut out of reality. For example, artist Diemut Strebe’s Redemption of Vanity used the MIT ultrablack to make a sparkling yellow diamond appear as a completely flat black dot – a provocative statement on value and perception. Another artist painted a “void canvas” with Vantablack, which to viewers looked less like a painting and more like a portal of empty darkness. These materials let artists play with concepts of nothingness, infinity, and the absence of light. However, ethical debates have also arisen (e.g. should a color be monopolized?), leading many to champion open-access alternatives. Beyond fine art, designers have toyed with ultra-black coatings for fashion and architecture. A striking example was architect Asif Khan’s Vantablack-coated pavilion at the 2018 Winter Olympics, billed as “the darkest building on Earth.” Its walls, studded with tiny lights, mimicked a starry night sky in broad daylight . In fashion, while an actual Vantablack dress isn’t feasible (due to application constraints), designers have used blackest-black paints on accessories or gallery displays to mesmerizing effect. The aesthetic implication is clear: these materials challenge our visual perception, creating illusions of depth or the complete lack thereof, and evoke a sense of the sublime or the uncanny by literally obscuring reality.
Scientific and Industrial Uses: In science and technology, ultra-black materials have very practical applications. A major use case is optical instrumentation. Inside telescopes, cameras, and spectrometers, stray light can cause glare and reduce image contrast. Coating interior baffles, tubes, or detector housings with an ultra-black material dramatically improves performance by absorbing unwanted light. For instance, NASA has used carbon-nanotube blacks to line the inside of space telescope optics, achieving better stray-light suppression than standard black paints . Surrey NanoSystems notes that Vantablack coatings are ideal for astronomy, since they help telescopes spot faint stars and exoplanets by eliminating stray reflections . These coatings are also excellent for creating nearly ideal blackbody references – objects that absorb and emit radiation perfectly – useful for calibrating sensors and thermal cameras. In the lab, a piece of Vantablack-coated foil can serve as a calibration target that approximates a perfect absorber/emitter for infrared measurements .
There are also specialized scientific detectors (for example, certain infrared photodiodes or bolometers) that incorporate microstructured black surfaces (like black silicon or nanotube films) to maximize absorption and thus sensitivity. Because some ultra-black materials maintain high absorption from UV through IR , they can be used to improve instruments across a wide wavelength range. Another domain is laser systems: an ultra-black dump or coating can absorb high-power laser light to ensure no reflection causes interference or harm.
Stealth and Camouflage: It’s natural to wonder if these super-blacks can make objects “invisible” to the eye or to detection systems. Indeed, the original impetus for Vantablack included military and aerospace interests . A coating that reflects virtually no light would be extremely hard to see, especially in low-light conditions – imagine a plane or a drone painted in a true black that reveals no highlights or contours. In theory, such an aircraft against a dark night sky would be nearly impossible to spot visually. However, in practice there are challenges. Durability is one: the original CNT forests like Vantablack can be fragile – even a gentle touch or airflow might damage them . Newer spray formulations are more robust but still need careful handling. So, while ultra-black coatings could enhance visual stealth (e.g. no sun glint off a cockpit canopy or no reflection from a soldier’s gear), they must withstand real-world conditions. There’s also the consideration of other spectra: stealth technology also concerns radar and infrared – different wavelengths that require different absorption properties. Carbon nanotube coatings fortunately also absorb well in infrared , which could help reduce heat signatures or IR camera detection. In fact, researchers have considered these coatings for satellites and military sensors, not only to avoid detection but to cut down stray light that could give away a position or spoil an image . While we’re not yet seeing fighter jets painted in Vantablack, some concept designs and prototypes have appeared (for example, a Vantablack-coated BMW X6 art car was shown in 2019 to emphasize its sculptural form by making it essentially a black silhouette). It’s reasonable to expect that as application techniques improve, ultra-black paints could find niche uses in camouflaging equipment or improving LIDAR systems (reducing interference by absorbing unwanted laser signals, as hinted by self-driving car researchers ).
Human Perception and Psychological Implications: An often overlooked aspect of these materials is how they alter our perception. When an object is coated in an ultra-black, our visual system loses all cues about shape, gloss, and distance on that object. The brain struggles to process what the eye sees – or rather, fails to see. Viewers of Vantablack-coated artworks have reported that it feels like looking into a void or a hole, even if they know intellectually that a solid object is right there. This can be disorienting and has a psychological impact: deep black has long been associated with mystery, elegance, or even fear (the void, the unknown). Now we have man-made materials that intensify this to an extreme. Artists leverage this to provoke emotional responses; for example, presenting a richly faceted diamond – a symbol of brilliance – as an inert black void challenges our expectations and can even be unsettling . In design, ultra-black surfaces can create startling contrasts or focal points precisely because they suck in light and attention – nothing is darker, so anything next to such a surface appears bright by comparison.
There’s also an aesthetic/philosophical dimension: the “blackest black” touches on the idea of achieving an absolute – a color so pure in its darkness that it becomes an almost conceptual object. It raises questions like, can you go any darker than this? Interestingly, scientists keep pushing the boundary: from 99% to 99.9% to 99.995%, approaching that asymptotic 100% absorption (which only a theoretical black hole might truly achieve). Each record-breaking development invites the public to reimagine what black means in both art and science.
Conclusion
Ultra-black materials represent a remarkable convergence of nanotechnology, optics, and artistry. From Vantablack’s CNT forest that absorbs 99.96% of light to MIT’s record-dark coating at 99.995% , we are essentially creating artificial “light traps” that rival the darkness of space. These materials have proven invaluable for cutting-edge science – enabling telescopes to see farther and sensors to measure more accurately by removing stray light. They’ve also captured the imagination of artists and the public, symbolizing a new kind of aesthetic extreme: the ability to sculpt pure void. While practical challenges (like durability and cost) remain, rapid progress is being made in making ultra-blacks more accessible – from paints that anyone can use, to new composites and metamaterials with broad applications. As we continue to develop even darker substances, we’re not just breaking records for the sake of it; we’re learning more about light and perception. Each advance forces us to ask: How does removing light change the way we see the world? And what new innovations could a nearly perfect absorber enable?
In the realm of stealth and camouflage, the implications are both exciting and sobering – a world where objects can literally hide in plain sight by reflecting nothing back to our eyes or instruments. In art and design, the blackest black offers a portal to the sublime, allowing creators to play with the absence of light as a material in itself. Ultimately, the journey to the darkest possible material is as much about illuminating our understanding of light as it is about chasing darkness. And as the saying (almost) goes, once you go ultra-black, you never go back – because ordinary black just isn’t the same after you’ve seen the closest thing to a black hole on Earth .
Sources: The information and data in this report are drawn from recent scientific news and publications, including MIT News , Smithsonian Magazine , Boston University research news , Artnet News , manufacturer datasheets , and Guinness World Records reports , among others. These sources provide measured reflectance/absorption values and context for each ultra-black material, as cited throughout the text.