Black Silicon is a new material developed at Harvard by physicist Eric Mazur. According to the NY Times Harvard is supposed to announce today a licensing agreement with startup SiOnyx to commercialize the new promising material.
Black Silicon was more or less created on a hunch of Dr. Mazur, you could also call it creativity.
Black Silicon is extremely sensitive to light and will find its first commercial use in night vision goggles.
The increase in sensitivity is apparently 100-500 fold to currently used silicon detectors. The material is low cost and can be made in current silicon plants. The photovoltaic properties of black silicon are still under investigation and no immediate plans for Black Silicon Solar Cells are in the works.
More details on the NY Times.