'The world's blackest material' is now in spray form

(Surrey NanoSystems)

Vantablack, touted as “the world’s blackest material,” is now available in spray form.

The original Vantablack material cloaks objects with a layer so black that it can make them look flat, something which could be useful for stealth weapons. Vantablack’s nano-structure enables the material to absorb all incident black.

U.K.-based Vantablack developer Surrey NanoSystems has announced Vantablack S-VIS, a spray version of the coating material. The spray greatly widens the potential applications for the technology, according to the manufacturer, noting that it is now possible to coat larger, more complex shapes and structures. Vantablack S-VIS, it says, can trap a massive 99.8 percent of incident light, or light falling on an object.

The spray can make objects appear to be “two-dimensional black holes,” according to 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 types of airborne or terrestrial applications,” said Surrey NanoSystems’ Ben Jensen, in a press release. “Possibilities include commercial products such as cameras, equipment requiring improved performance in a smaller form factor, as well as differentiating the look of products my means of the coating’s unique aesthetic appearance.”

Surrey NanoSystems describes the spray as 17 times less reflective than the paint used for minimizing stray light in the Hubble space telescope.