Vantablack
What is Vantablack?
How does Vantablack work?
What are some applications of Vantablack?
Who has exclusive artistic rights to Vantablack?
Vantablack, the brand name for a class of super-black coatings that absorb nearly 100 percent of the light falling on them. Developed by the British company Surrey NanoSystems (SNS), Vantablack is one of the darkest synthetic materials in the world. When applied to surfaces, its extreme light absorption obscures the outlines of three-dimensional (3D) objects, making them appear flat and interfering with depth perception. Applications of Vantablack include satellite calibration and telescope coatings (the super-black material absorbs stray light and makes astronomical observations more accurate) and art installations to create striking illusions.
The term Vantablack is a portmanteau of the acronym VANTA and the word “black.” VANTA stands for vertically aligned nanotube array and refers to the way carbon nanotubes in the super-black material are arranged on an object’s surface on application.
Production and variants
SNS developed the original super-black coating in 2012 for use in Earth observation satellites, particularly in optical instruments such as telescopes and cameras, using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which involves spraying gaseous chemicals onto a surface in a controlled environment to form solid material. Vantablack is coated on an object by using CVD to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are hollow tubes of carbon atoms with diameters of the order of a few nanometers. The tubes are made to grow so they stand straight up from the object’s surface like trees. CNTs grown in this vertically aligned nanotube array are tightly packed against each other, with about one billion in a square centimeter. The light falling on an object coated with Vantablack enters the spaces between the CNTs and bounces between them repeatedly until it is absorbed, creating a deep and minimally reflective black color.
A research team from SNS and the University of Surrey is planning to launch Jovian-1, a satellite coated in Vantablack 310, in 2026. The mission aims to counter light pollution from expansive satellite systems in low Earth orbit. The light emitted by these satellites interferes with astronomical observations. The 310 variant on the satellite absorbs 98 percent of incident light, significantly reducing the satellite’s reflectivity. The Jovian-1 project aims to set a precedent for future satellite designs that minimize their optical impact in space.
Vantablack was originally used to improve astronomical observation by preventing stray light from interfering with astronomical cameras, star trackers, and telescopes. Using a coating to reduce stray light also reduced the size and number of components involved in space instrument design. The variants developed since the product was first commercially made available in 2015 have a wider range of uses, such as improving the signal-to-noise ratio in infrared sensors and imaging systems and for ultralight wiring, wiring in microchips, and touch screens. They have also been used by artists and architects.
In 2016 SNS produced a variant called Vantablack S-VIS that does not require the nanotubes in the coating to be precisely aligned, allowing it to be sprayed on objects rather than grown on objects in a CVD reactor. S-VIS absorbs less light in the infrared spectrum than the original Vantablack but still blocks 99.8 percent of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. Another version, developed in partnership with Santa Barbara Infrared in 2017 and called Vantablack S-IR, extended the material’s infrared wavelength absorption, enabling simpler optical designs to suppress stray light.
Customers can have Vantablack S-VIS and Vantablack S-IR applied to their products by company technicians at the SNS facility in the United Kingdom. A third version, called Vantablack VBx, is available for customers to apply in their own facilities, but it requires them to have special spray systems and training.
Vantablack special projects
Vantablack’s unique visual impact has been showcased in news features, high-profile public installations, and commercial campaigns:
- Demonstration with Marty Jopson: The British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC’s) The One Show displayed two bronze busts of presenter Marty Jopson, one coated in Vantablack and one without the coating, on February 3, 2016. The coated bust looked flat when viewed from the front, while its side profiles showed the silhouette of the bust but none of its contours. Both busts were later displayed at the London Science Museum for four months.
- The World’s Blackest Building: The Hyundai Pavilion, designed by U.K. architect Asif Khan and coated in Vantablack VBx2, was unveiled at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games as the “World’s Blackest Building.” It offered visitors an immersive experience of total darkness, demonstrating the material’s extreme light absorption on a large scale.
- The Black Ops House: Video game publisher Activision partnered with Khan to design the “Black-Ops House,” a temporary installation coated in Vantablack VBx2, for the global launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in October 2018. All surfaces of the Black Ops House were coated in Vantablack VBx. Activision invited fans and media to experience playing the new game in what was the world’s darkest room.
- Coachella Festival: At the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, French DJ and producer Gesaffelstein became the first artist to use Vantablack VBx2 in a live performance with his set featuring a 40-foot-high monolith structure that simulated a black hole, which he appeared to float against. The performance was considered groundbreaking for its unique combination of audio and visual effects.
- BMW VBX6: German automaker BMW showcased a one-off Vantablack-coated X6 model at the 2019 Frankfurt auto show, using VBx2 to obscure body contours and emphasize only illuminated features, giving the vehicle a striking, surreal appearance.
Vantablack and art world controversy
SNS was approached by multiple artists who sought to use Vantablack’s unique capabilities for works of art. Stating that they could not work with more than one artist, SNS gave exclusive rights for the artistic use of Vantablack to Indian-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor. Kapoor’s focus on light reflections and voids in his works, such as Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park (also known as the “Chicago Bean”), was considered well suited to Vantablack’s properties, which informed Surrey NanoSystems’ decision to grant him exclusive artistic rights.
Kapoor showcased a series of sculptures of abstract shapes clad in Vantablack coatings as his first works with the material during the 2022 Venice Biennale at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia and Palazzo Manfrin. The works later made their U.S. debut at New York’s Lisson Gallery in November 2023. Also in 2022, Swiss luxury watchmaker Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps (MCT) released a limited-edition watch designed by Kapoor with a coating of Vantablack paint on its face.
Kapoor’s exclusive artistic rights to Vantablack drew criticism from artists who argued against monopolizing such a unique material. In response, artist Stuart Semple developed a widely available “Pinkest Pink” pigment and other super-black paints (Black 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0)—all explicitly off-limits to Kapoor.