//There's black, and then there's Vantablack.// Developed by a British company Surrey NanoSystems, Vantablack is currently the world's darkest material, absorbing up to 99.965% of light in the visible spectrum. It is so dark that the eye has difficulty understanding what it is seeing and the perception is thus limited to 2 dimensions. Vantablack ("Vertically Aligned Nano Tube Arrays") consists of a "forest" of carbon nano-tubes that are so densely packed that most of the light gets trapped inside the material.
Vantablack is mainly being used in research applications now from stealth aircraft and weaponry to calibrating space cameras and telescopes and increase their optical efficiency.
British contemporary artist Anish Kapoor has exclusive rights to use the Vantablack pigment in his art. //Vantablack seems a natural choice for Kapoor's experimental inclinations given his forays into working with stainless steel and mirrors. Kapoor's sculptures are designed to unsettle the viewer and distort their surroundings, so working with a material that functions as a portable abyss seems like a nice step up.//
[Sources: cool hunting, dezeen, dazed digital]
