One of my students asked, “How black can you get?” I didn’t know the answer; however, serendipitously, I ran into this article last night. Researchers in Rochester, NY have created a solar cell that absorbs 99.7% of incoming light, which means that it has an albedo (reflectivity) of just 0.3%. Since solar cells create energy by absorbing light, the more light it can absorb — the blacker the solar cell — the more efficient the solar cell is likely to be.