How black is the blackest material? “It's so black you almost can't see it. It has a kind of unreal quality", says artist Anish Kapoor, who recently acquired the exclusive rights to use the revolutionary pigment “vantablack” in art, reported The Gizmodo. Yes. Vantablack. You can add this one to your dictionary now to describe the darkest colour ever known.

So what exactly is Vantablack?

Imagine the blackest shade of black ever made, that is Vantablack. It has been developed by British company Surrey NanoSystems and is composed of a series of microscopic vertical tubes. When light strikes Vantablack, it becomes trapped instead of bouncing off and is continually deflected between the tubes. This carbon-based substance absorbs 99.96% of light that hits it.

Scientists at the company had developed the substance in 2014 to help disguise satellites. Paint with its light-absorbing properties has also been used to hide Stealth fighter jets from enemy eyes.