A British company, called “Surrey NanoSystems” has produced a strange material so black that it absorbs all but 0.035 per cent of visual light, setting a new world record.

This “super black” material is named as “vantablack” by combining first letters of the term “Vertically Aligned NanoTube Arrays”

It is so dark that the human eye cannot understand what it is seeing. Shapes and contours are lost. If it was used to make black dresses, the wearer’s head and limbs might appear to float around a dress-shaped hole.

It can be used for enabling astronomical cameras, telescopes and infrared scanning systems to function more effectively.

Scientists have grown Vantablack on sheets of aluminum foil.

Vantablack is created using carbon nanotubes which are arranged so light can’t escape from it.

Arranging the carbon nanotubes vertically makes sure the light cannot escape the layer and is almost completely absorbed.

The company “Surrey NanoSystems” was scaling up production of vatablacks to meet the requirements of its customers in the defence and space sectors.

Vantablack is as close to a black hole imaginable, as it is so dark that the human eye struggles to recognize its shape and dimension.

Vantablack has the highest thermal conductivity and lowest mass-volume of any material that can be used in high-emissivity applications. It has virtually undetectable levels of outgassing and particle fallout, thus eliminating a key source of contamination in sensitive imaging systems. It withstands launch shock, staging and long-term vibration, and is suitable for coating internal components, such as apertures, baffles, cold shields and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) –type optical sensors.

Surrey NanoSystems will launch this material at the Farnborough International Air Show this week.