Engineers have created a material 10 times blacker than anything that has been developed so far.

MIT engineers produced a material 10 times darker than anything that had been developed before, capturing more than 99.96% of incoming light.

The material consists of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, or CNTs, of microscopic carbon filaments, such as a fuzzy forest of small trees, which the team has developed on a surface of aluminum foil engraved with chlorine.

The researchers published their results in the journal ACS-Applied Materials and Interfaces. They also expose the material in a layered form as part of a new exhibition on the New York Stock Exchange entitled "The redemption of vanity".

The work, fruit of a collaboration between Brian Wardle, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT (Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology), and his group, and the artist-in-residence at MIT Diemut Strebe, presents a natural yellow diamond of 16.78 carats, worth an estimated $ 2 million, the equipment is coated with CNT's new ultra-black material.

The effect is dazzling: the gem, usually with shiny facets, appears in the form of a flat black void.

Wardle says that CNT material, in addition to making an artistic statement, can also be useful, for example in optical glbades that reduce unwanted glare, or to help space telescopes detect exoplanets in orbit.

"There are optical and space science applications for very dark materials, and of course, artists have been interested in black since long before the Renaissance," Wardle said.

"Our material is 10 times darker than anything that has been reported, but I think darker black is a constantly moving target, and somebody will find a darker material and eventually we will understand all of them." underlying mechanisms and we will get the ultimate black. "