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MIT has demonstrated the properties of its CNT-based material by painting a diamond. The image of the coated diamond is on the right. R. Capanna, A. Berlato and A. Pinato
What do you do with a $ 2 million natural yellow diamond? If you are at MIT, you will cover it with a wild high-tech material that will give the impression that any object has fallen into a black hole.
The covered diamond is now a work of art called The Redemption of Vanity, a collaboration between Diemut Strebe, artist-in-residence at the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology, and Brian Wardle, a professor of art. aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.
The diamond will be on the New York Stock Exchange until November 25, which will allow viewers to see MIT's new carbon nanotube (CNT) material in action.
"The unification of the extreme opposites in one object and the particular aesthetic characteristics of the CNTs have drawn my imagination to this artistic project," Stree said in a statement from MIT (PDF).
MIT has described carbon nanotubes as "microscopic carbon filaments, looking like a fuzzy forest of tiny trees" that grow on an aluminum foil surface. "The leaf captures more than 99.96% of all incoming light, making it the darkest material ever recorded," MIT said in a statement released on Thursday.
Materials based on ultra-black carbon nanotubes are of interest for optical equipment and aerospace applications. The most famous material based on carbon nanotubes "blackest black" comes from a British company Surrey NanoSystems, which unveiled Vantablack in 2014. Surrey has since developed a sprayable version of Vantablack.
The Wardle-led MIT team compared its CNT-based material to known data on other carbon nanotube materials, including Vantablack. Wardle told CNET that MIT materials reflect less light than previous materials, making it the darkest and darkest champion.
While it's tempting to put MIT's CNT material and Vantablack in a cage to fight it, the human eye may have a hard time figuring out which one is really the blackest. Rather than rivals, it may be more useful to consider them as options.
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BMW painted an SUV in Vantablack as a smooth marketing gesture. Andrew Hoyle / Roadshow
The MIT team proposed to make its CNT Black process available to artists for non-commercial activities. British sculptor Anish Kapoor has the exclusive right to use Vantablack in art projects. The wider artistic community has turned to an acrylic painting called Black 3.0 for its darker drawings, but the work of MIT could offer a new way to explore the depths of black through the darker colors. art.
Wardle told CNET that the team does not plan to give the hardware a catchy name. Rather, it focuses on MIT's mission to create and disseminate knowledge by making it available for artistic and scientific applications.
Strebe and Wardle shared their thoughts on this in the release on The Redemption of Vanity, stating, "We do not believe in the exclusive ownership of a material or idea for a work of art. and we opened our method to an artist. "
Despite its darkness and near-extinction, the diamond now reflects something bigger than itself: a brilliant cross between science and art.
Surrey Nanosystems does not have any comment.
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