Vice Chairman Im Se-ryeong of Daesang Group drew major attention for the black fashion she wore at the Navy officer commissioning ceremony for her son, Lee Ji-ho. At the commissioning held on the 28th in Jinhae-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang, at the Naval Academy, Im matched black sunglasses with a black coat and a black tote bag for a unified color scheme. The neat yet dignified mood of black was noted to suit a military event.
Scientists are also captivated by black. They are studying to find a jet-black, lacquer-like shine. U.S. scientists looked to nature for answers. By mimicking the feathers of the bird-of-paradise, they developed a top-tier black fabric technology that can be used not only for black fashion but also for cameras, telescopes, and solar cells.
◇Spine-like barbs in feathers that refract light inward
Cornell University said on the 1st (local time) that "a research team led by Professor Larissa Shepherd in the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design has replicated the structure of black feathers to realize the world's darkest black fabric" and announced the findings. The results were published in the international journal Nature Communications.
The eye perceives objects through light reflected from them. If light is reflected 100%, it looks white, and if it is not reflected, it looks black. Ultrablack, the darkest color, is defined as having a light reflectance below 0.5%. The Cornell team said the black produced by applying nanostructures to the surface of white wool recorded a light reflectance of 0.13%, a world record among ultrablack fabrics.
The researchers drew inspiration from the feathers of the bird-of-paradise (scientific name Ptiloris magnificus), which lives in New Guinea and northern Australia. The bird-of-paradise is called the rifle bird in English because its black feathers were likened to the uniforms of the British Rifle Brigade. Shepherd said, "Along with melanin that produces black, the bird-of-paradise has very interesting hierarchical structures called small barbs," adding, "We wanted to combine these elements into fabrics."
The black feathers of the bird-of-paradise contain melanin pigments that absorb light. The bird also has small barb structures that refract light inward. These small barb structures create a glossy, elegant black. Seen head-on it looks purely black, but at different angles the feather appears to shimmer. The team coated the wool surface with polydopamine, a synthetic melanin, then trimmed the tips to create fibers with small barb-like shapes.
Simply coating the wool surface with melanin was not enough to achieve ultrablack. The team allowed the polydopamine to penetrate deep into the textile fibers, turning the entire fabric black. Only then could they later shave off parts of the outer fiber to form small barb-like shapes that maintained blackness while refracting light inward.
Doctoral researcher Hansadi Jayamaha explained, "Light bounces back and forth between the fibers and does not escape," adding, "This is the principle that creates the ultrablack effect." Jayamaha and doctoral researcher Kyuin Park are co–first authors of the paper.
◇Applications from fashion to solar cells and cameras
Shepherd said, "From a design standpoint, what's interesting is that most existing ultrablack materials are not as wearable as our technology," adding, "And we can maintain ultrablack over wide angles."
The team said analyses showed the fabric consistently maintained ultrablack within a 120-degree range, from head-on to 60 degrees on either side. Zoe Alvarez, a Cornell graduate in fashion design, verified that the pitch-black color persisted by designing a dress using the ultrablack fabric developed by Shepherd's team.
Ultrablack technology can be used beyond fashion. Researcher Kyuin Park said, "Ultrablack technology has potential in various solar-thermal applications that convert absorbed light into thermal energy," adding, "For example, ultrablack fabrics could be used as body-temperature-regulating camouflage materials."
While the Cornell team achieved the blackest color in textiles, they did not develop the darkest substance ever. The record is held by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2019, Brian Wardle, a professor in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, reported a black foil that absorbs 99.9995% of light in the journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
The MIT team grew carbon nanotubes on aluminum foil etched with chlorine and found that. Carbon nanotubes are a new material in which carbon atoms connect in hexagonal honeycomb patterns to form bundles, offering high electrical conductivity and high strength.
The second-darkest material in the world is Vantablack, developed by Surrey NanoSystems, a British nanotechnology company. It is also composed of carbon nanotubes and absorbs 99.965% of light. It is used to prevent stray reflections in satellites, cameras, telescopes, and sensors.
References
Nature Communications (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65649-4
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2019), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b08290