Journal of Bionic Engineering 14 (2017) 616621

Comparison of the Photo-thermal Energy Conversion Behavior of

Polar Bear Hair and Wool of Sheep

Hao Jia, Jiansheng Guo, Jingjing Zhu

Key Laboratory of Textile Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University,
Shanghai 201620, China

Abstract
The unique photo-thermal energy conversion property of polar bear hairs has long been regarded as an essential element to
enable this creature to survive in extremely cold conditions. However, the relevant research was ineffectual to provide sufficient
evidence of its solar energy harvesting property. In this paper, the properties of polar bear hairs were analyzed and compared
systematically with those of domestic sheep wool through the measurements in the aspects of photo-thermal conversion effi-
ciency, scanning electron microscope, fluorescence spectral and transmission of UV-visible spectra. Moreover, this study was
much more focused on exploring ultraviolet utilization property of polar bear hair than previous research. The research results
demonstrated that the photo-thermal property of polar bear hair was superior to those of wool fiber, especially in harvesting
ultraviolet part. The potential benefits of this research lie in the development of bionic solar energy collective devices, especially
in artificial solar energy collection fibers and textile products.
Keywords: photo-thermal conversion efficiency, polar bear hair, sheep wool fiber, ultraviolet utilization, fluorescence spectra
Copyright 2017, Jilin University. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science Press. All rights reserved.
doi: 10.1016/S1672-6529(16)60427-4

air-filled, pigment-free transparent guard hairs and a

1 Introduction
In recent years, the boom of bionics has extremely
increased the research attention to some special func-
tions of wild animals in nature[15]. As the polar bear
(Ursus maritimus) survives in hostile polar environ-
ments, where the temperature can be as low as 50 C, it
has attracted a lot of attention in the science and general
media for decades[610]. ritsland and Ronald[11] were
the first researchers who discovered some special prop-
erties of the pelt of polar bears, such as the strong ab-
sorption ability of UV light. A number of other charac-
teristics of polar bear hair have also been detected that
the hair has a high hollow structure, the skin has a
7 cm 11 cm thick subcutaneous layer of blubber, and
the pelt retains heat so effectively that it is virtually
invisible to infrared photography[12]. Nevertheless, sev-
eral controversies about the properties of polar bear hair
in relation light guiding and thermal protection remain
unsolved[13].
Polar bear fur appears white and is composed of
two layers: an outer layer of 5 cm 15 cm long, tubular,
Corresponding author: Jiansheng Guo
E-mail: jsguo@dhu.edu.cn
softer layer of white down. The long transparent hollow
guard hairs are responsible for gathering heat, by al-
lowing the ultraviolet rays of sunlight to be captured by
the air in the hollow hair shaft and then to be transported
to the bears skin in the same way that warm water flows
through a pipe; a process likened to fiber optics. Grojean
et al.[14,15] hypothesized that the transported sunlight is
converted into heat by the black skin, and so the animal
is warmed. The reason why the bear becomes invisible
in the infrared region is because the outer temperature of
the bear fur is close to that of the surrounding ice and
snow; it has been shown that the emissivity of polar bear
fur is equal to its absorptivity[16]. Nevertheless, some
research suggested that the special sunlight environment
in the Arctic does not support the above fiber-optic
theory[17]. Because of the existence of the polar day and
polar night, sunlight is absent when polar bears need to
convert it to heat, while it is sufficient when it is not
essential. In addition, polar bear hair is perhaps not
unique, based on the almost identical appearance of
polar bear hair comparing with that of other mammals. It
 Jia et al.: Comparison of the Photo-thermal Energy Conversion Behavior of
Polar Bear Hair and Wool of Domestic Sheep
was speculated that the polar bears own internal me-
tabolism is regarded as the primary heat producing
mechanism, while hairs just help to keep the bear from
losing heat rather than gathering heat. Therefore, the
photo-thermal energy conversion property of polar bear
hairs is essential to be researched systematically and
compared with that of representative mammals hairs.
The sheep wool should be the most typical and common
protein fiber, as its research has a rather long his-
tory[1820]. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, no
literature has been reported regarding the direct
photo-thermal energy measurement and analysis to
compare these two kinds of fibers.
In this paper, the photo-thermal energy conversion
properties of polar bear hair and sheep wool were
measured and analyzed by a series of experiments. It
was demonstrated that polar bear hairs could behave
more efficiently in guiding and converting sunlight en-
ergy into thermal energy than sheep wool. Analysis and
comparison of the differences in the structures and
properties of polar bear hair and sheep wool not only
have benefits in understanding the superiority of polar
bear hair deeply, but also contribute largely to improve
the properties of sheep wool in textile treatments. It
should also be noted that potential benefits of this re-
search lie in the development of bionic solar collective
devices, especially in photo-thermal energy conversion
textiles products.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Hair samples
Dorsal hair samples of a polar bear (Ursus mari-
timus), age about 3 years, were obtained from the Polar
Museum in Fushun, China. According to the breeder,
Ultraviolet
Polar bear Sheep wool Control
hair
17.0 C 17.0 C 17.0 C
Data logger
Fig. 1 The measure of photo-thermal conversion efficiency.
617
main of the samples were picked from its backside. They
were cleaned with distilled water, but not treated with
any organic solvents. The sheep wool (Ovis aries) sam-
ples pulled from the same body part of sheep were
treated in the same way. Only healthy hairs were in-
cluded in the studies, as there is the evidence that fungal
attack can affect their optical properties[21]. The average
length of both species was 6 cm, and their diameters
were approximately 10 m 60 m.
2.2 Photo-thermal energy conversion efficiency
studies
Numerous papers indicated that polar bear hairs
have special absorption properties of ultraviolet rays[22].
This experiment was aimed to test and verify the verac-
ity of these reports. Three hundred fibers of polar bear
hair and sheep wool were tied in bunches and placed
into two sealed flasks, with half the fiber length inside
and half outside the flask. A similar empty sealed
flask was set up as a control (Fig. 1). Three thermal
sensors linked to a data logger were also inserted into the
flasks. After exposure to UV light irradiation (wave-
length 290 nm 400 nm) for five hours, temperature
inside the flasks was recorded as a measure of the ability
of polar bear hair and sheep wool to absorb ultraviolet
radiation and convert it into heat. Furthermore, five
more groups of repeated trials were conducted to con-
firm the universality and authenticity of the experiments.
2.3 Morphological structure
The morphological structures of the cross section of
polar bear hair and sheep wool were examined by Scan-
ning Electron Microscopy (SEM) (JEOL JSM-6700F
SEM, Japan) and compared.
2.4 Fluorescence spectra
The different fluorescence properties of these two
hair samples were measured by fluorescence spec-
trometer. In this experiment, the wavelength of exaction
light was set as 450 nm, while the wavelength of emis-
sion light was 380 nm.
Stokes shift is a purely molecular affect as absorbed
photons are emitted at lower energy, causing a spectral
shift to higher wavelengths[23]. This phenomenon is
presented by the wave number difference between the
maximum absorption peak position and maximum
emission peak position. Tributschet et al.[21] obtained the
 618 Journal of Bionic Engineering (2017) Vol.14 No.4

following formula for calculating the efficiency of 3 Result and discussion

photo-thermal conversion:
3.1 Photo-thermal conversion efficiency
e The difference in the photo-thermal conversion
Qe = Qa a , (1)
a properties of polar bear hair and sheep wool fiber was
measured by calibrated thermal detectors, and the re-
where Qe is the energy of emitted light (fluorescence),
corded curves of temperature in each flask in an ex-
Qa is the energy of incident light, a is the frequency of
periment were shown in Fig. 2.
incident light, and e is the frequency of emitted light
After irradiation of UV light, the temperature trend
(fluorescence). The value of is larger when the ma-
of flask with polar bear hairs increased immediately,
terial is more likely to show photo-thermal conversion.
while that of sheep wool did not change in a short time.
The value is related to wavelength (), so a large
Within one hour, the polar bear hair temperature showed
wavelength difference (stokes shift) can also reflect a
a rise of 0.6 C from 17.0 C to 17.6 C, especially in the
large photo-thermal conversion.
first five minutes the value increased very obviously,
while the sheep wool fibers temperature only grew
2.5 UV-visible reflectance spectrum
0.1 C from 17.0 C to 17.1 C. After approximately 3.5
The wavelength dependent reflectances of the polar
hours, the curve of polar bear hairs increased to 17.8 C.
bear hairs and sheep wool were measured using a spec-
In contrast, the temperature of sheep wool decreased
tral photometer (Lambda 35) with an attached integrat-
about 0.1 C due to the drop of room temperature. The
ing sphere (range 350 nm 1500 nm). To measure the
temperature of flask with polar bear hairs was higher
relationship between reflection percentage and wave-
than that of sheep wool by 0.8 C in about 5 hours. It is
length, the hairs were attached on the backside of the
integrating sphere and illuminated through a small
opening. The opening was closed with a flat disc with 17.8

the same surface coating as the inside of the integrating

17.6
sphere. The incident angle was chosen to be approxi-
Temperature (C)

mately perpendicular to the hair axis. Additionally, the 17.4 Polar bear hair
photo-thermal utilization percentage related with re- Wool
Contract sample
flection percentage can be calculated depending on the 17.2

wavelength. The energy of the sunlight received by earth

17.0
varies different according to the wavelength, whose
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
detail value can be obtained by the ASTM reference Time
spectra (AM1.5). Therefore, photo-thermal utilization Fig. 2 The temperature trends of sheep wool fibers and polar bear
percentage efficiency depending on different wave- hairs.
length, P(), can be determined via:

(1 R ( ))AM1.5G ( )d
P ( ) = , (2)
AM1.5G ( )d
Temperature difference (C)

where R() is the reflectance efficiency depending on

different wavelength, and AM1.5G() is the intensity of
standard AM 1.5G spectrum. It should be noted that the
sunlight utilization percentage includes transmittance
percentage and absorption percentage, as both parts
were regarded as be beneficial to photo thermal conver-
sion process. Comparing the difference of sunlight
utilization percentage efficiency of polar bear hair and
Fig. 3 The temperatures of polar bear hairs bottle higher than that
sheep wool can help recognize the superior sunlight of sheep wool fibers after five-hours exposure to UV light irra-
utilization properties of polar bear hair. diation.
 Jia et al.: Comparison of the Photo-thermal Energy Conversion Behavior of
Polar Bear Hair and Wool of Domestic Sheep 619
clearly shown that polar bear hair has an excellent (a) (b)
photo-thermal conversion property in utilization of ul-
traviolet rays.
Fig. 3 shows the temperature difference results of
polar bear hairs and sheep wool fibers after five-hours
exposure to UV light irradiation of five experiments, and
20 m 20 m
the temperature of flask with polar bear hairs was about
0.98 C higher than the counterparts with sheep wool in Fig. 4 SEM micrographs of the cross section of (a) polar bear hair
average. Although the number of hairs was limited, the and (b) sheep wool.
efficiency of polar bear hairs photo-thermal conversion
(a) 448
property was still considerable. 1.0 380 Absorption spectrum

Normalized absorption coefficient

Emission spectrum
0.8
3.2 Morphological structure
0.6
The cross-sectional morphologies of polar bear hair
and sheep wool were examined by SEM, shown in Fig. 4, 0.4
revealing the difference of section structures in these two
0.2
kinds of fibers. Similar to previously reported results,
polar bear hair presented a hollow structure while sheep 0.0
300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Wavelength (nm)
wool was solid. The structure of the inner channel could (b)
1.0 358 411
Normalized absorption coefficient

greatly improve the thermal insulation property, by

Absorption spectrum
holding more still air in the pelt layer. 0.8 Emission spectrum

0.6
3.3 Fluorescence spectra analysis
0.4
The fluorescence research of polar bear hairs was
0.2
inadequate in the past, and this property was closely
linked to the photo thermal conversion property. This is 0.0

mainly because the spectra of incident light can be 300 350 400 450 500
Wavelength (nm)
550 600

transferred through fluorescent process from lower

wavelength into higher wavelength, which possess
stronger heating effect, and it is widely known that the
fluorescent process is also an exothermic reaction.
Hence, a stronger fluorescence of hairs contributes to a
stronger photo thermal conversion property.
As shown in Fig. 5, the value of stokes shift of polar
bear hairs was larger than that of sheep wool. To be
specific, the stokes shift values of polar bear hairs and
sheep wool were 68 nm (from 380 nm to 448 nm) and
53 nm (from 358 nm to 411 nm) respectively. Hence, the
polar bear hair presented a stronger fluorescence prop-
erty compared to sheep wool. As the higher stokes shift
leads to a higher energy absorption by hairs, it gives a
powerful evidence to support the polar bear hairs func-
tion of converting UV light to thermal energy. The rea-
son for the higher fluorescence property of polar bear
hair may be caused by some specified amino acid, which
has the fluorescent features.
Moreover, it was demonstrated that polar bear hairs
Fig. 5 The stokes shifts of (a) polar bear hairs and (b) sheep wool.
have a much smaller overlap of absorption spectra and
emission spectra than that of sheep wool. In other words,
polar bear hair has less self-absorption problem on the
utilization of sunlight, which is mainly caused by the
overlap between these two spectra. Therefore, the polar
bear hairs have a stronger fluorescence property and a
higher utilization efficiency of ultraviolet rays.
3.4 UV-visible reflectance spectrum analysis
Fig. 6 illustrates the reflectance spectrums of polar
bear hair and sheep wool. Specifically, the reflectivity of
polar bear hair was only 4% at the wavelength of 200 nm,
while it was approximately 78% for sheep wool at that
stage. When the wavelength was larger than 300 nm, a
dramatically increasing trend was observed for polar
bear hairs, reaching about 80% in 900 nm. The trends of
reflectivity of both hairs were similar, but their values
demonstrated a great difference. The lower reflectivity
 620 Journal of Bionic Engineering (2017) Vol.14 No.4

100 clearly shown in Fig. 7, the sunlight utilization per-

centage efficiency of polar bear hair was much higher
80
than that of sheep wool conspicuously. In the total
Reflectivity (%)

60 measurement range of UV-visible spectroscopy

(200 nm 900 nm), the sunlight utilization proportion of
40 polar bear hair (22.19%) was nearly five times that of
Polar bear hair sheep wool (4.72%). And it was obvious that sunlight
20 Wool
utilization percentages in UVB part (320 nm 400 nm)
0
of both polar bear hairs and sheep wool were highest
among the measured light spectra, with 80.54% and
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Wavelength (nm) 15.33%, respectively. When it came to other wavelength
Fig. 6 The reflectivities of polar bear hairs and sheep wool fibers.
part, utilization efficiency percentages of both hairs
decreased and the gaps between them became narrowed.
However, the value of polar bear hair was always far
Utilization efficiency percentage (%)

greater than that of sheep wool.

These calculation results supported forcefully the
viewpoint that polar bear hair can absorb sunlight more
effectively, especially ultraviolet light. Moreover, it
seemed to reveal that natural protein hairs have the
common ground of selective sunlight absorption based
on wavelength. Specifically, the utilization properties of
UV part of these two protein hairs were both higher than
visible part.

4 Conclusion
Fig. 7 Comparing sunlight utilization percentage efficiencies of
polar bear hair and sheep wool indifferent wavelength ranges. In this study, the extraordinary properties of polar
bear hair in converting ultraviolet light into heat were
rate of UV-visible light leaded to corresponding higher well illustrated by a series of comparative measurements
transmission and absorption value. Thus, polar bear pelt with sheep wool. To be specific, a polar bear hair could
could be regarded as a transmitter of short wave radia- guide and convert sunlight energy into thermal energy in
tion but a barrier to long wave radiation. Then short a highly more efficient way, especially in the aspect of
wave solar radiation mostly passed through the polar harvesting the ultraviolet rays. Hence, its utilization
bear pelt and long wave heat radiation was insulated by range of solar spectrum is much larger than that of sheep
those layers. Also, more transmitted incident sunlight wool, and resulting in processing a relatively stronger
could be absorbed by black skin, especially the ultra- photo-thermal behavior.
violet light. Based on a larger frequency difference value be-
Through correlative experiment, Grojean et al.[14] tween excitation light and emitting light, the stronger
indicated that the polar bear hair could trap 90 percent of fluorescence property of polar bear hair also contributed
ultraviolet light and 17 percent from the entire solar effectively to a higher ultraviolet ray energy harvesting.
spectrum through thermal balance equations. Our ex- Except for the heat released by the fluorescence process,
periment provided the evidence for that point through the emitted light in higher wavelength can remarkably
this reflectivity measurement of polar bear hairs and improve the photo thermal conversion performance of
sheep wool. This would be another main reason why the following skin as well. Additionally, with a durable
polar bear hairs could take advantage of solar radiation low reflectance of solar light, a parallel array of hairs
energy in a more efficient and effective way. worked as some miniature light pipes that funnels ul-
Furthermore, the sunlight utilization percentage traviolet light down through their cores and eventually
efficiencies of these two fibers were calculated. As absorbed by the black skin. And by holding much more
 Jia et al.: Comparison of the Photo-thermal Energy Conversion Behavior of
Polar Bear Hair and Wool of Domestic Sheep
still air, the thermal insulation property has been ex-
tremely enhanced by the hollow structure of polar bear
hair. Therefore, the photo-thermal energy conversion
and thermal insulation properties have been integrated in
a very efficient way in polar bear hairs. In contrast,
sheep wool is relatively weaker in both ways.
Solar energy collective devices are expected to be
utilized increasingly and efficiently into more fields.
Then the research on the properties of polar bear hairs
has significant potential benefits to develop innovative
bionic material possessing high photo-thermal energy
conversion property and will probably have a profound
influence on the development of solar energy collective
devices.
Acknowledgment
The research was supported by the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No.
CUSF-DH-D-2017004).
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