The 'darkest' car in the world leaves drivers stunned as scientists create new shade of black
A team of experts have created the ‘darkest’ car paint in the world, which has left drivers stunned by the result.
Scientists created a new shade of black that was inspired by Vantablack, which is an incredibly dark shade of black that absorbs up to 99.965% of visible light.
This comes seven years after BMW wowed consumers by unveiling its X6 concept car coated in Vantablack.
The one-off vehicle was designed in collaboration with Surrey NanoSystems, with the color absorbing up to 99% of visible light, giving the car the appearance of being two dimensional.
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Now, paint giant Nipsea Group is taking it one step further to develop an even darker shade of black.
In a paper published in Matter & Light, it detailed how the ‘design and construction of high-jetness ultra-black coatings are widely acknowledged as a crucial challenge in high-performance automotive coating industry’.
Author Zhiwei Liu, who is a research chemist for the Color Technology, Group Core R&D Shanghai, Nipsea Group, said: “In China, car color has become a key selling point. Deep black finishes have long been the premium choice and signature color for luxury cars due to their elegant appearance, powerful visual impact, and luxurious undertone.
“As a result, automotive coating companies have been actively pursuing innovations in color technology to develop mass-processable ultra-black coating solutions with extreme blackness.”
The paper goes on to explain how the structural absorption ‘based on high light absorption nanomaterials’ is the key for scientists to construct ultra-black coatings.
It continues: “However, the practical feasibility and crucial film property requirements of automotive coatings present great challenges for industrial application. In this study, we present an easily processable strategy for the construction of ultra-black coatings based on the ultra-fine carbon black-carbon nanotube (CB-CNT) black dispersion. Strong π–π interactions drive the nano-size CB particles uniformly distributed along CNT, forming a unique nanostructure within CB-CNT ultra-black coating. The dual effects of high intrinsic absorption capacity and the structural absorption endow CB-CNT ultra-black coating with an extraordinary visible-light absorption value exceeding 99.90% and remarkable blackness values.”
Many people have taken to social media to share their own reactions to the new shade of black, with one user writing on Reddit: “Isn’t that rather dangerous? A car you can’t see in 3–D doesn’t sound like an asset to road safety.”
Another said: “Try keeping that car exterior looking clean… good luck.”
And a third added: “And keeping the car cool in the summer.”