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Many new applications including consumer products can now benefit from the world's blackest surface coating material, Vantablack, thanks to an innovative new spray paint version believed to be the blackest paint ever created.

 

Vantablack's nanomaterial structure absorbs virtually all incident light, and was designed to optimize the performance of precision optical systems. Now, the material's developer, UK-based Surrey NanoSystems, has created a version that can be sprayed onto objects - rather than being grown using a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process.

 

Called Vantablack S-VIS, the new nanomaterial spray paint greatly widens the applications potential, making it possible to coat much larger and more complex shapes and structures, as well as many new materials including engineering polymers. Even though the material is applied using a simple spraying process, it traps 99.8% of incident light hitting its surface. 

 

A surface coated with Vantablack S-VIS looks very odd to the human eye, often described by observers as appearing like a two-dimensional gap or 'black hole'. The only other commercially available material in the world that is darker is original Vantablack - which set a new world record for blackness when it was launched as it traps a staggering 99.965% of incident light in the visible spectrum. 

 

Vantablack was originally developed for aerospace engineering applications, such as satellite-based optics like star trackers and earth observation imaging and calibration systems. It increases the sensitivity of these optical systems by improving the absorption of stray ultraviolet, visible and infrared light. 

 

Since then, many other applications have emerged and now include collector elements in solar energy systems, architecture, cinematography, coating optical elements in high performance cameras, spectroscopy instrumentation, cold shields, improving the signal-to-noise ratio of optical sensors, and ultra-black colouring to enhance the styling and appearance of luxury goods such as watches, jewellery and works of art.

 

"The original Vantablack coating has had a big impact on the market, and is helping many companies to bring out higher-performing equipment," says Ben Jensen of Surrey NanoSystems. "We are continuing to develop the technology, and the new sprayable version really does open up the possibility of applying super-black coatings in many more types of airborne or terrestrial applications. Possibilities include commercial products such as cameras, equipment requiring improved performance in a smaller form factor, as well as differentiating the look of products by means of the coating's unique aesthetic appearance. It's a major step forward compared with today's commercial absorber coatings."

 

Vantablack S-VIS is so effective that its performance far outstrips any other known paint - achieving a reflectance of 0.2%. And unlike other black absorbers, it offers this exceptional performance across a very wide range of viewing angles, which is critical for optical instruments as well as many aesthetic applications. It is some 17 times less reflective than the current super-black paint used on the Hubble space telescope for minimizing stray light, for example.

 

The active element of the Vantablack S-VIS spray paint is a carbon nanotube material. The super-black coating is applied using a patented manufacturing and spray-painting process, combined with pre- and post-spray steps developed to produce extreme levels of absorption. The process is very scalable and suitable for high volume production on small to large substrates - providing very great flexibility of application.

 

Vantablack S-VIS can be applied to most stable material surfaces. The only major requirement is that the surface or substrate material must be able to endure temperatures up to 100 degrees Centigrade - which means that it can be applied to many types of engineering-grade polymers or composite materials for example.

 

The structured surface of Vantablack S-VIS means that it is not recommended for applications where it is open to physical contact or abrasion. Ideally, it needs to be applied on surfaces that are protected, such as within a packaged product or behind glass or other protective layers. 

 

Vantablack S-VIS spray coating is offered as a service from Surrey NanoSystem's processing centre in the UK. However, the process is also expected to be available under license to companies wishing to integrate the coating into production processes.

 

Surrey NanoSystems is already making Vantablack S-VIS available to selected application developers - subject to export approval from the UK government.