The New Black

"Researchers in the US claim to have made the world's darkest material using arrays of carbon nanotubes.The new material reflects just 0.045% of light incident upon it, making it blacker than the previous record holder — a nickel and phosphorous alloy that reflected about 0.16% of incident light. The material could be used to boost the efficiency of solar panels."

To get an idea of just how dark this material is, consider this "The total reflectance of conventional black paint, for example, is between 5 and 10 percent. The darkest manmade material, prior to the discovery by Lin’s group, boasted a total reflectance of 0.16 percent to 0.18 percent.

Lin’s team created a coating of low-density, vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays that are engineered to have an extremely low index of refraction and the appropriate surface randomness, further reducing its reflectivity. The end result was a material with a total reflective index of 0.045 percent "

In addition to improving solar collector efficiency, I'll bet this material would be awesome for the creation of more Velvet Elvis paintings that were the "artistic" rage of the early '70s.