Researchers at the University of British Columbia are staring into an abyss of their own making – a new "super-black" material that absorbs almost all visible light that reaches it. The team stumbled onto the discovery quite by accident, but they already see potential commercial applications on the horizon. Forestry professor Philip Evans and PhD student Kenny Cheng were experimenting with high-energy plasma etching, trying to make wood more water-repellant by engraving a microscopic texture similar to that of the moisture-shedding lotus leaf.
But when they used the same etching technique on the wood's end grain, everything went dark – extremely dark. Rather than discarding the wood, they sent a sample to Texas A&M University's department of physics and astronomy. Scientists there confirmed the specimen reflected less than one per cent of visible light, casting it into the rare category of "ultra-black" or "super-black" materials.
"Ultra-black or super-black material can absorb more than 99 per cent of the light that strikes it – significantly more so than normal black paint, which absorbs about 97.5 per cent of light," Evans said in a statement through the university. The UBC team has now trademarked the discovery, calling the material Nxylon after "Nyx," the Greek goddess of the night, and "xylon," the Greek word for wood.
Unlike other super-black materials, including Vantablack, which is comprised of carbon nanotubes, the UBC discovery is derived from basswood, a renewable resource found throughout North America. "Nxylon's composition combines the benefits of natural materials with advanced structural features, making it lightweight, stiff, and durable," Evans said. "The wood industry in B.
C. is often seen as a sunset industry focused on commodity products. Our research demonstrates its great untapped potential.
" Super-black materials have promising applications in astronomy, where the darkest possible coatings are required to reduce stray light and improve the clarity of telescopic images, the researchers noted. The materials are also used to create more efficient solar-power cells, and to adorn luxury goods, like watches and jewelry, in place of expensive gemstones, like onyx, or rare woods, such as ebony and rosewood. The UBC researchers have already created some prototype watches using the etched wood while exploring other potential commercial applications.
The team is also creating a startup company, the Nxylon Corporation of Canada, looking to monetize their discovery in collaboration with jewellers, artists and tech product designers. One of the most surprising discoveries, according to the researchers, is that Nxylon remained black even when covered with a gold coating to make it electrically conductive enough to be studied through an electron microscope. "This is because Nxylon’s structure inherently prevents light from escaping rather than depending on black pigments," the team said.
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