An ultrathin and super black amorphous carbon (a-C) film has been fabricated by borrowing the inverse V-type anti-reflection nano-architecture from the black wings of butterfly Ornithoptera goliath through vacuum sintering process. The biomimetic a-C film shows good optical absorption (99%) at low reflectance (<1%) in visible light (380–795 nm), which is comparable to the previously fabricated darkest materials, while with a thickness (5 μm) of only 15% of those materials. Experimental results as well as theoretical simulation which is based on finite difference time domain method (FDTD) show that reflection of the fabricated inverse V-type structured a-C film is merely 1/13 of that of the flat surface a-C film, and 1/8 of that of glassy carbon. Complex refractive index of the derived a-C for visible light (380–795 nm) has also been calculated.Graphical abstractInverse V-type anti-reflection structure was discovered in black wings of butterfly Ornithoptera goliath and then successfully transferred into a-C film, which absorbs approximately 99% of incident light with only 1% reflection comparable to the reported darkest materials while with a thickness of only 15% of those materials.Research highlights► Butterfly wing inspires the anti-reflection surface. ► Super black and ultrathin amorphous carbon film. ► Theoretical and experimental verification.

Novel porous morph-genetic silicon carbide has been fabricated through sintering treatment, after infiltrating the methyl organic silicone resin to the bio-template. Its dynamic transition of structure during sintering process is investigated by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) for the first time. By analyzing Si K-edge EXAFS, it is found that the coordination number of the nearest C shell remains almost unchanged while that of the nearest Si shell dramatically changes when the structure is transformed from amorphous into crystalline state.