Scientists Create Material That Doesn't Reflect Light

Troy, NY (AHN) - Scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rice University are planning to submit to the Guinness World Record a report on the darkest material known to man. The scientists created it.

The material is a thin coating of low-density arrays of loosely vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes. The material absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light.

The new material is more than three times darker than the previous record.

It has potential uses in solar energy conversion, thermalphotovoltaic electricity generation, infrared detection and astronomical observation.

"It is a fascinating technology, and this discovery will allow us to increase the absorption efficiency of light as well as the overall radiation-to-electricity efficiency of solar energy conservation," lead researcher Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of the university's Future Chips Constellation, said in a statement.

All materials, from paper to water, air, or plastic, reflect some amount of light, according to the Rensselaer website, adding scientists have longed for an ideal black material that absorbs all the colors of light while reflecting no light - with little success until now.

The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the Focus Center New York for Interconnects.