The Mystery of Vantablack

Vantablack is an extremely dark material designed to absorb almost all visible light that hits its surface.

Instead of reflecting light back to your eyes, its microscopic structure traps light, creating an appearance that can seem almost completely flat and dimensionless.

What makes it unusual?

• Extremely low reflectivity
• Made using vertically aligned carbon nanotubes
• Can make three-dimensional objects appear strangely two-dimensional
• Originally developed for scientific and engineering applications
• Its unusual appearance has also attracted attention in art and design

Imagine this

You’re looking at a three-dimensional object covered in Vantablack. You know it has curves, edges, and depth, but your eyes struggle to see them.

The result: an object that can look less like a physical thing and more like a hole in space.

Just another shade of black.

Not quite. Vantablack behaves very differently from ordinary black paint.