Darkest manmade material ever made

Washington, Jan 23 (UNI) The darkest material ever made by man has been created by researchers.

The material, a thin coating comprised of low-density arrays of loosely vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes, absorbs more than 99.9 per cent of light and one day could be used to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of solar energy conversion, infrared sensors, and other devices.

The researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rice University, US, who developed the material have applied for a Guinness World Record for their efforts.

''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,'' the Science Daily quoted Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer, who led the research project, as saying.

The darkest manmade material, prior to the discovery by Prof Lin's group, boasted a total reflectance of 0.16 per cent to 0.18 per cent.

Prof Lin's team created a material with a total reflective index of 0.045 per cent.

This discovery could lead to applications in areas such as solar energy conversion, thermalphotovoltaic electricity generation, infrared detection, and astronomical observation.

UNI XC SKB RN1750