[ad_1]
<div _ngcontent-c15 = "" innerhtml = "
A rather expensive diamond on the New York Stock Exchange turns into a disturbing void when it is covered with a forest of carbon nanotubes.
R. Capanna, A. Berlato and A. Pinato
The night is dark and full of terror. Now, thanks to two engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, darkness is imminent: they invented a material that absorbs all but 0.005% of visible light. This makes it the darkest material ever created.
Interestingly, the engineers who made this new material do not really know why this material is even able to absorb as much light. It consists of a 'forest' of carbon nanotubes, the arrangement of which seems to suck up almost all the light and prevent most reflections in our eyes.
Remember vantablack? Appearing for the first time in 2014, it was at the time the most absorbent material ever created by light, digesting almost 0.035% of visible light. Like his new rival, it's also a work of tiny magic: extremely fine carbon nanotubes, no bigger than one billionth of a meter in thickness, are so close to each other that the incoming light is trapped, bouncing between them and becoming heat during the process.
Certainly, it's hard to imagine. According to Surrey NanoSystems, creator of Vantablack, it is useful to imagine that you are in a forest where trees are three kilometers long. "It's easy to imagine how little light, if any, you would get," they propose in a somewhat disturbing way, as they happily envisioned you to reduce to the size of a carbon nanotube.
In any case, it seems that this new ultra-black material has made Vantablack beat in the department of feasts. Not only that, but the newcomer on the world stage was a little more theatrical than the usual demonstration in nanotechnology.
The MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology met with the New York Stock Exchange and artist Diemut Strebe last Friday, where they smothered $ 2 million yellow diamond with the good things. It has gone from a resplendent and expensive aspect to a two-dimensional vacuum. If you are in the Big Apple, you can see or not the missing diamond yourself, as part of an exhibition entitled The redemption of vanity.
The new material – which does not have a name yet, give it the temporary nickname of Light Eating Forest, or LEF – owes its existence to serendipity, this all-powerful arbiter of scientific innovation and discovery.
Carbon nanotubes are not just lightweight; they are much stronger than steel and are excellent conductors of electricity and heat. Brian Wardle, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, and Kehang CuiA former MIT postdoctoral fellow who became a professor at Shanghai's Jiao Tong University wanted to increase electrical and thermal energy even further.
Namely, they tried to grow these nanotubes on other conductive materials, like aluminum. As part of this process, they used salt water to remove an electrically insulating layer of oxide appeared when the aluminum was in the presence of heated air.
When they put that in the oven to cook wonderfully conductive carbon nanotubes on the surface of the aluminum foil, they discovered that the final nanotube forest was, well, extremely dark.
Other tests revealed that 99.995% of the light was absorbed by the EWL, regardless of the angle at which the light was projected. We know that these forests are extremely black. But, as noted by the authors (in a way) in the newspaper Materials and interfaces applied to ACSThe relentless darkness of LEF was frankly ridiculous.
The engineers are still hoping to finally explain what made LEF so black in the first place. This might look like what is happening with Vantablack, but at this point, the researchers propose a humiliated and verbose shrug.
Meanwhile, a patent application is in preparation.
It is not fair slightly confusing works of art that this kind of ultra-dark material will be useful for. As noted by The New York Times At the time Vantablack was in fashion, super lightweight drivers are always welcome in all types of electrical circuits, from those of your smartphone to those of satellites. The striking capabilities of these materials have also been discussed as possible ways to protect space telescopes from near light while focusing on distant stars of the Earth.
By the way, this is not the last chapter of the blackest black quest. Wardle recognizes in an MIT blog article that the darkest black is a "constantly moving target". Someone will soon invent an even darker material, will further contribute to this area of niche engineering, and then, it will "be able to properly design the ultimate black".
In other words, the largest light digester made by humans has not yet emerged.
">
A rather expensive diamond on the New York Stock Exchange turns into a disturbing void when it is covered with a forest of carbon nanotubes.
R. Capanna, A. Berlato and A. Pinato
The night is dark and full of terror. Now, thanks to two engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, darkness is imminent: they invented a material that absorbs all but 0.005% of visible light. This makes it the darkest material ever created.
Interestingly, the engineers who made this new material do not really know why this material is even able to absorb as much light. It consists of a 'forest' of carbon nanotubes, the arrangement of which seems to suck up almost all the light and prevent most reflections in our eyes.
Do you remember Vantablack? Appearing for the first time in 2014, it was at the time the most absorbent material ever created by light, digesting almost 0.035% of visible light. Like his new rival, it's also a tiny magic job: extremely fine carbon nanotubes, no more than a billionth of a meter in thickness, are so tight against each other that the incoming light gets trapped converted into heat in the process.
Certainly, it's hard to imagine. According to Surrey NanoSystems, creator of Vantablack, it is useful to imagine that you are in a forest where trees are three kilometers long. "It's easy to imagine how little light, if any, you would get," they suggest a bit worrisome, as they happily envisioned you shrinking to the size of a nanotube of carbon.
In any case, it seems that this new ultra-black material has made Vantablack beat in the department of feasts. Not only that, but the newcomer on the world stage was a little more theatrical than the usual demonstration in nanotechnology.
The MIT Art, Science and Technology Center met Friday with Diemut Strebe's artist, the New York Stock Exchange, to smother a $ 2 million yellow diamond. It has gone from a resplendent and expensive aspect to a two-dimensional vacuum. If you are in the Big Apple, you can see or not the missing diamond yourself, as part of an exhibition entitled The redemption of vanity.
The new material – which does not have a name yet, give it the temporary nickname of Light Eating Forest, or LEF – owes its existence to serendipity, this all-powerful arbiter of scientific innovation and discovery.
Carbon nanotubes are not just lightweight; they are much stronger than steel and are excellent conductors of electricity and heat. Brian Wardle, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, and Kehang Cui, a former post-doctoral fellow at MIT and a professor at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, wanted even more progress in the electrical and thermal fields.
Namely, they tried to grow these nanotubes on other conductive materials, like aluminum. As part of this process, they used salt water to remove an electrically insulating layer of oxide appeared when the aluminum was in the presence of heated air.
When they put that in the oven to cook wonderfully conductive carbon nanotubes on the surface of the aluminum foil, they discovered that the final nanotube forest was, well, extremely dark.
Other tests revealed that 99.995% of the light was absorbed by the EWL, regardless of the angle at which the light was projected. We know that these forests are extremely black. But, as noted by the authors (in a way) in the newspaper Materials and interfaces applied to ACSThe relentless darkness of LEF was frankly ridiculous.
The engineers are still hoping to finally explain what made LEF so black in the first place. This might look like what is happening with Vantablack, but at this point, the researchers propose a humiliated and verbose shrug.
Meanwhile, a patent application is in preparation.
It's not just a little confusing works of art for which this type of ultra-dark material will be useful. As the New York Times noted at the time Vantablack was fashionable, super light drivers are always welcome in all types of electrical circuits, from those of your smartphone to those of satellites. The striking capabilities of these materials have also been discussed as possible ways to protect space telescopes from near light while focusing on distant stars of the Earth.
By the way, this is not the last chapter of the blackest black quest. Wardle recognizes in an article in MIT's blog that blackest black is a "moving target." Someone will soon invent an even darker material, will further contribute to this area of niche engineering, and then, "they will be able to properly design the ultimate black."
In other words, the largest light digester made by humans has not yet emerged.