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Researchers Accidentally Create “Wonder Wood”: Superblack Material That Absorbs More Than 99% of Light
Imagine discovering something completely new when you were trying to do something else? That’s exactly what happened to researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada. They were working on a super wood, but ended up creating a superblack material that can absorb more than 99% of light. And believe it, this discovery has the potential to revolutionize several industries.
It all started in 2016, when a British company named Surrey NanoSystems launched Vantablack, a material that practically swallows light. They used carbon nanotubes thin as an atom to create a structure that absorbed 99.96% of light. This sparked a true race to see who could create the blackest black.
Researchers at UBC Made an Unexpected Discovery
In 2019, the folks at MIT entered the competition and launched an even darker material that absorbed 99.995% of light. But now, the researchers at UBC made an unexpected discovery: a “wonder wood,” dubbed Nxylon, that is superblack and can absorb more than 99% of the light that hits it.
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Not a Common Black, a Superblack
The most amazing part is how this happened. In UBC’s laboratories, Professor Philip Evans and his PhD student Kenny Cheng were trying to create wood with hydrophobic properties, meaning it would repel water. To do this, the researchers used high-energy plasma. But when they applied this technique to the cut ends of the wood, the surface turned black, but not a common black, a superblack. The team realized this wood absorbed almost all visible light, reflecting less than 1%. What seemed to be a mistake turned out to be a great discovery.
Nxylon Is Different From Anything We’ve Seen
Confirmed by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Nxylon is different from anything we’ve seen. The wood not only turns black like coal but remains superblack even when coated with other materials, like gold. This happens because the color is not a pigment or a superficial layer; it is the wood itself that, through the plasma process, gains this ultradense hue.
The Revolution of Nxylon
Now, you might be wondering: “Okay, but what is this good for?” Well, the answer is that the possibilities are vast. Superblack materials like Vantablack are already used in telescopes to prevent unwanted reflections and improve the observation of exoplanets. They have also become trendy in the luxury world, with BMW painting an X6 model in Vantablack, and artists exploring the superblack in their works.
Much Easier to Produce Than Vantablack
But Nxylon has an important differentiator: it is much easier to produce. While Vantablack relies on a complex structure of carbon nanotubes, Nxylon can be made by “simply” burning wood with high-energy plasma. This means it could be more accessible, and UBC is already planning ways to scale up this production, including the creation of an industrial-scale plasma reactor.
Just imagine, this “wonder wood,” as the portal IGN presented, could be used in ceilings and walls of environments that need to be non-reflective, in watch displays that currently use onyx, and of course, in telescopes and other scientific equipment. And the best part, according to Dr. Philip Evans, is that Nxylon can be made from sustainable and renewable materials found in North America and Europe. This opens up enormous potential for the timber industry, especially in Canada, which could benefit from this new application.
The discovery of Nxylon by researchers at UBC is one of those rare moments when science stumbles upon something incredible. A superblack material made from wood, capable of absorbing more than 99% of light, that can be produced in a more accessible and sustainable way. It is an innovation that not only promises to impact various industries but also shows how science can surprise us when we least expect it.
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