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Researchers accidentally create “wonder wood”: super-black material that absorbs more than 99% of light
Imagine discover something totally new when you were trying to do something else? That's exactly what happened to researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC), in Canada. They were working on a superwood, but they ended up creating a super black material that can absorb more than 99% of light. And believe me, this discovery has the potential to revolutionize several industries.
It all started in 2016, when a British company called Surrey NanoSystems launched Vantablack, a material that practically swallows light. They used carbon nanotubes as thin as an atom to create a structure that absorbed 99,96% of light. This started a real race to see who could create the blackest black.
Pesquisadores from UBC made an unexpected discovery
In 2019, folks at MIT entered the dispute and released even darker material, which absorbed 99,995% of the light. But now, the researchers from UBC made an unexpected discovery: a “wonder wood”, called Nxylon, which is superblack and can absorb more than 99% of the light that falls on it.
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Not an ordinary black one, a superblack
The most incredible thing is how this happened. In the UBC laboratories, Professor Philip Evans and his doctoral student Kenny Cheng were trying to create wood with hydrophobic properties, that is, one that repels 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 an ordinary black, a superblack. The team realized that this wood absorbed almost all visible light, reflecting less than 1%. What seemed like a mistake turned out to be a great discovery.
Nxylon is unlike anything we've ever seen
Confirmed by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Nxylon is unlike anything we've ever seen. The wood not only turns charcoal black, but remains superblack even when coated with other materials, such as gold. This happens because the color is not a pigment or a surface layer, it is the wood itself which, through the plasma process, gains this ultra-dense tone.
The Nxylon revolution
Now you may be wondering: “Okay, but what is this for?” Well, the answer is that the possibilities are vast. Superblack materials like Vantablack are already used in telescopes to avoid unwanted reflections and improve the observation of exoplanets. They have also become fashionable in the world of luxury, with BMW painting an X6 model Vantablack, and artists exploring the superblack in his works.
Much easier to produce than Vantablack
But Nxylon has an important difference: 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 can be more affordable, and UBC is already planning ways to expand this production, including the creation of an industrial-scale plasma reactor.
Just imagine, this “wonder wood”, as the portal IGN presented, could be used on ceilings and walls in environments that need to be non-reflective, on watch dials that today use onyx stone, and of course, in telescopes and other scientific equipment. AND Best of all, according to Dr. Philip Evans, is that Nxylon can be made from sustainable, renewable materials found in North America and Europe. This opens up enormous potential for the timber industry, especially in Canada, which can benefit from this new application.
The discovery of Nxylon by researchers from UBC is one of those rare moments when science stumbles upon something incredible. A material superblack made of wood, capable of absorbing more than 99% of light, which can be produced in a more affordable and sustainable way. It is an innovation that not only promises to impact several industries, but also shows how science can surprise us when we least expect it.
