Blacker Than Black Nanotubes are the New Black

The military shows interest in a new material that's 30 times as dark as the current standard—but it's good for solar panels too!

By Bjorn Carey Posted 02.20.2008 at 3:54 pm 1 Comment

B-2 Stealth Bomber B-2 during flyby at 2005 Edwards AFB air show. James Graham

We told you about a new ultra-black material back in January and guess who was the first group to come knocking on the researchers' door? The military. It seems military officials are interested in the super-black stuff to help make radar-shedding B-2 stealth bombers even more difficult to spot. To refresh your memory, the new black, created by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, traps about 99.995 percent of light that hits it--about 30 times as black as the current standard for blackness.

The stuff is made of carbon nanotubes with walls just an atom thick. The trick is to space the tubes widely, which allows ample space for light to enter, but, because the tubes are so small, very few surfaces to bounce the light back out. The current standard for black--set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology--reflects about 1.4 percent of incoming light. The new stuff reflects just 0.045 percent.

However, project leader Shawn Yu-Lin is quick to point out that the new black has plenty of potential applications. It could boost the efficiency of today's solar panels, which are coated with conventional black paint that reflects more than five percent of incoming light. Or a telescope barrel lined with the material could absorb specks of scattered light to provide a darker background against which to spot faint, distant stars. And let's not forget about 007's tux.

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1 Comment

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ldkinfo

12/29/08 at 8:17 pm

Reading the article about the next stealth bomber raises some questions to. One concerns using a wolfpack formation for greater defense.
I assume that the military has already done studies on reducing or eliminating the turbulence that results from the plane as its flying air being drawn into the engines and exhausted.
First question is what happens when the turbulence from several stealth aircraft flying close together commingles? Will this set up turbulent airflow patterns that can be seen on Doppler Radar, even if you can't see the planes themselves.
Next question is how did they determine what the Radar signature of a mosquito looks like? The mosquito analogy suggests that a Radar signature exists, but how many mosquitoes fly over 600 mph. It seems that if you have software that keeps track of a signature's velocity, this would give its true identity, even if it appears like a mosquito or a bird.
Last question. There is mentioned the possibility that the new bomber will be unmanned, but this might cause a stir of Capitol hill if used to carry nukes. But aren't ICBMs unmanned ? What logic are they using to differentiate the two. Both can crash or blow up. But at least you can call the bomber back.