What Is Vantablack and Why Does It Make Objects Disappear?

Vantablack is a revolutionary material that absorbs 99.965% of visible light, making three-dimensional objects appear as featureless black voids that seem to cut holes in reality itself. This extraordinary light-absorbing capability is achieved through a forest of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that trap photons and convert them to heat.

How Vantablack Works

The secret behind Vantablack’s incredible light absorption lies in its microscopic structure. The material consists of carbon nanotubes, each approximately 20 nanometers wide, arranged in a dense vertical forest. When light enters the gaps between these nanotubes, it becomes trapped in a labyrinth of reflections, bouncing repeatedly between the tube walls until it’s almost entirely converted to heat rather than being reflected back to our eyes.

This process eliminates virtually all surface details, contours, and shadows that normally allow us to perceive three-dimensional form. Objects coated in Vantablack appear as flat, featureless silhouettes regardless of lighting angle or intensity, creating an unsettling visual effect that our brains struggle to process.

Original Purpose and Development

Vantablack was originally developed by Surrey NanoSystems for practical aerospace applications, particularly satellite calibration and optical instrumentation. The material’s ability to absorb stray light makes it invaluable for space-based telescopes and sensors that require extremely low background interference to function accurately.

The coating helps eliminate unwanted reflections and scattered light that could compromise the precision of sensitive optical equipment. Its development represented a significant breakthrough in materials science, pushing the boundaries of what was thought possible in light absorption technology.

The Art World Controversy

What began as a scientific achievement became the center of one of art history’s most bizarre feuds. In 2016, sculptor Anish Kapoor secured exclusive artistic rights to Vantablack, preventing any other artist from using the material in their work. This unprecedented move sparked outrage in the art community, as many felt that monopolizing a material violated the collaborative spirit of artistic expression.

Artist Stuart Semple responded by creating the world’s pinkest pink pigment and explicitly banning Kapoor from purchasing it. This tit-for-tat escalated into an ongoing battle involving various ultra-bright and ultra-dark pigments, with each artist attempting to one-up the other while making pointed statements about artistic freedom and access to materials.

Beyond Vantablack: Even Darker Materials

Despite its fame, Vantablack is no longer the darkest material known to science. In 2019, MIT engineers unveiled a material that absorbs 99.995% of visible light—making it ten times darker than Vantablack. This new material uses a similar carbon nanotube structure but with improved alignment and density.

The development of these ultra-dark materials continues to advance, driven by both scientific applications and the ongoing quest to create the absolute blackest black. Each iteration brings us closer to achieving perfect light absorption, with implications for everything from solar energy collection to stealth technology and astronomical observation equipment.