Darkest Materials The "darkest ever" substance known to science has been made in a US laboratory. The material was created from carbon nanotubes - sheets of carbon just one atom thick rolled up into cylinders. Researchers say it is the closest thing yet to the ideal black material, which absorbs light perfectly at all angles and over all wavelengths. "They've made the blackest material known to science. The application will be to things like more efficient solar cells, more efficient solar panels and any application where you need to harvest light," a theoretical physicist from Imperial College, London, commented.