US scientists claim to have created the darkest material ever:
It is only as thick as 1 atom and looks like a carbon nanotube. To obfuscate the material to be completely black, it has to absorb all colors of light over every angle and wavelength while reflecting none back. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, might have come 1 step closer.

Those guys created an array of vertically aligned, low-density nanotubes, which is craggy on the surface to reduce reflections to a minimum. After this the optical properties were measured. The team found out that the material is extremely good at absorbing light on the one hand, while on the other hand absolutely poor at reflecting it. Professor Sir John PendryIn practice said: "They've made the blackest material known to science."

In practice those super-black nanotubes could be of use for highly efficient solar cells or panels, or a KURO display that goes beyond absolute black. Only of minor importance would be a Siemens Gigaset phone in absolute black, whereupon most Siemens Gigaset fans love those dark & grey colours when they make their choice to buy a telephone...

(via BBC News)