If you're building an ultra-sensitive space telescope, for instance, you want to minimize reflections within that device as much as humanly possible. That's why Surrey NanoSystems released its Vantablack coating two years ago. Now, in order to expand its possible applications, the material is available in a convenient spray-on form.

The conventional form of Vantablack is made up of a forest of light-absorbing carbon nanotubes, and is applied to surfaces via a chemical vapour deposition process. Once in place, it traps 99.965 percent of incoming light – that's enough to make three-dimensional objects which are coated in it appear as two-dimensional voids, across a wide range of viewing angles.

The new version, known as Vantablack S-VIS, is almost as good – it traps 99.8 percent of ultraviolet, visible and infrared light. According to Surrey Nanosystems, that's 17 times less reflective than the super-black paint used in the Hubble telescope.