Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351

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Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solmat

Design and optimization of a photo-thermal energy conversion model

based on polar bear hair
Hao Jia, Jingjing Zhu, Zhaoling Li, Xiaomei Cheng, Jiansheng Guo n
Key Laboratory of Textile Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A design and optimization of photo-thermal energy conversion components using textile fiber is very
Received 20 April 2016 important in solar thermal energy conversion technology. In this study, an innovative bionic photo-
Received in revised form thermal energy conversion model based on polar bears hair (Ursus maritimus) energy conversion me-
5 August 2016
chanism has been explored and optimized. Besides, a processing technology and wave guiding principle
Accepted 13 September 2016
using this new model were investigated to enhance the solar-thermal energy utilization property. Spe-
cifically, the fluorescent property, reflectivity and photo-thermal conversion property of the selected
Keywords: fabricating materials were measured and demonstrated in detail. The experimental results showed that
Photo-thermal conversion fibers this proposed new model worked well to design high-efficiency photo-thermal energy conversion de-
Polar bear hairs
vices. Also the bionic materials exhibited a high photo-thermal converting efficiency as well as out-
Wave-guiding properties
standing heat insulation properties.
Fluorescence spectra
& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Besides, the polar bear hairs can also guide light transmission
like optical fibers by trapping more sunlight, especially in the
Solar energy has long been regarded as an essential and re- wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation [9]. This continuous process
newable resource of energy for relieving current energy crises. repeats all the time and then leads to the guiding of light toward
Regarding the thermal energy, plenty of relevant research work on the polar bear's black skin where it is absorbed and finally con-
exploring new and more effective solar thermal conversion de- verted into heat. Combining the compelling properties of excellent
vices have been done by many researchers [1]. The theory of solar photo-thermal conversion and heat insulation, polar bear fur plays
energy conversion based on polar bear hair model was proposed vital role in energy harvesting and reserving, which serve and
several decades ago [2]. Polar bear hairs have been focused on work like transparent thermal insulation materials. Therefore,
mainly because of their significant structural mechanism and these unique properties of polar bear contribute largely to the
outstanding optical properties [3–6]. Observations of individual polar bears’ survival in such an extreme environment on earth.
hairs under a light microscope indicate that they are hollow in Inspired by the structures and function of polar bear hairs,
structure along their length and nearly transparent with mem- considerable efforts have been committed in recent years to de-
brane structure [7]. Air can be captured not only in the hollow velop new kinds of fibers and thermal collectors to collect solar
structure of each hair, but also among the hairs, which allows the energy [10–12]. The main function of solar collector components
are transforming the incident solar irradiation into heat and
heat radiation go through, however, the convection and conduc-
meanwhile suppressing heat losses caused by thermal radiation
tion of the heat are blocked. It should be worth noting that the
[13,14]. In addition, some scientific studies have tried using optical
inner core is very rough with respect to the smooth outer surface.
fiber bundle to transfer the concentrated solar energy to the load
It has been demonstrated that the base of capillary has an ability
in high-temperature solar thermal applications [15]. And it has
to collect light energy, and the rough inner surface of hollow core
been demonstrated that PMMA fiber bundle has advantages in
can double the collection efficiency [8]. Specifically, the scattering
terms of high transmission efficiency compared to traditional heat
process at the core of the capillary thus aids the coupling of light
exchangers.
into the glass tube. Hence, a complex light collection mechanism
Nowadays, textile based roofs, which consist of coated fabrics,
begins in the hair core by two coupling processes, namely light are commonly used in the fields of football or tennis arenas, air-
scattering process and combined scattering-fluorescent process. port malls, and hangars [16]. Especially, solar collector tools are
expected to be an innovative functionality of the textile roofs in
n
Corresponding author. the future [17,18]. Relevant research has enriched the prospect of
E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Guo). technical textile products and such currently obtained progress

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.09.017
0927-0248/& 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
346 H. Jia et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351

provides a good foundation for developing novel flexible textile guide them into absorption end where being converted into
solar collectors. It was demonstrated in previous [19] literature thermal energy. The total reflection principle of wave-guiding
that modification of synthetic fiber by some treatment methods materials is related to its refractive index. According to Snell’s law,
can lead to a higher photo-thermal conversion efficiency. To be all the photonic will be total reflected when the incident between
specific, coupling of combined more scatter light and fluorescence material's interface and air is greater than the critical angle [14].
effects contribute greatly to the sunlight utilization of fibers. Since The critical angle is defined as
most of the light is emitted at angles more grazing to the surface ⎛ 1⎞
than the critical angle for total internal reflection, the light thus θc = sin−1⎜ ⎟,
⎝ n⎠ (1)
can be trapped in the collector and will propagate by successive
reflections to the edges, where it can be coupled out [20,21]. As a where n is the refractive index of waveguide materials. This means
consequence, it is an effective approach to modify the wave that approximate 75% of the photons will be total reflected by
guiding fiber with fluorescent dyes in the aim of improving its PMMA fibers as the refractive index of PMMA is 1.49. Besides, due
photo-thermal conversion properties. to fluorescent process, the spectra of sunlight can be transferred
In this paper, a new photo-thermal conversion fiber structure from lower wavelength into higher wavelength by the introduced
based on polar bear hair was proposed and its characteristics have dyestuffs. Also it is widely known that the light of higher wave-
been investigated in detail. The innovative fiber structure has a length possesses stronger photo thermal effect, namely their light
relatively low transparency in the IR and a comparatively high energy can more easily be absorbed by objects and converted into
thermal energy release due to Stokes shift. In addition, an ad- internal energy of lattices' thermal motions due to the lower pe-
vanced modification method of internal core coating for wave- netrability [23,24]. Therefore, solar energy harvesting performance
guiding fiber was introduced. Specifically, the core part of wave- can be improved to a great extent, considering the fluorescent
guide fiber is more close to the real polar bear hair after irregular process is an exothermic reaction as well.
internal coating. It has been proved that the expected solar har- It should be noted that suitable absorption material can con-
vesting performance was achieved by using polar bear hair fiber verse the light energy into thermal energy more effectively, as this
model with improved structure through experiments. This study kind of fibers can generate uniform radiance from the broad solar
has made some advance in the area of solar energy harvesting spectrum. The described experiments (Fig. 1) showed that the
devices and could have possible positive impact on the future scattering processes and fluorescence processes exhibited the
research. same order of magnitude in the area of coupling the initial light
into the inside of fibers’ conducting structures [8]. Moreover, the
thermal insulation property can be drastically enhanced by its still
2. Design of photo-thermal energy conversion fiber air inside thanks to the host fibers' hollow structure. For the fol-
lowing experiments, fibers were prepared according to the model
In order to manufacture the described light trapping mechan- sketched in Fig. 1c and d, namely finished with an optically active
ism, fibers were required to be modified for better performance coating and inner incompletely filling, and thus successfully mi-
both in the direction of a luminescence gap and a broader fluor- micked the polar bear hair.
escent band. Referring to Tribusth's model of polar bear hair [8],
three different geometry structures of photo-thermal conversion
fiber models were designed by Bahners [22] and they were sche- 3. Experimental
matically illustrated in Fig. 1(a–c). It was demonstrated that the
envisaged optical effect could be achieved by coating wave-guide 3.1. Materials
fiber with an optically active thin layer in the form of fluorescent
dyestuff dispersed into a coating matrix. According to the schemes shown in Fig. 1c and d, experiment
Nevertheless, only one proposed model (Fig. 1c) was analyzed fibers were selected to be used as commercial PMMA tubes sup-
for research among these models of technical fibers. The obtained plied by GoodFellow GmbH, Germany. For Fig. 1c, the diameter of
previous research was only limited in the fibers’ surface coating fibers (ME307902) was 2 mm. However, as the refractive index
and the employed modification method was not fully compre- varies over the fiber diameter, two types of hollow tubes
hensive to mimic the structure of polar bear hairs. Moreover, the (ME30SH02&ME30SH03) have been selected to be used for Fig. 1d
used methanol in some research groups [22] was not eco-friendly, model, which the external diameters were 2 mm and 3 mm, re-
especially considering that it was harmful to human beings’ spectively. Here, PMMA tubes were chosen in these experiments
health. Hence, we proposed a new geometry model of photo- because of their good wave guide properties, high transmittance
thermal conversion fiber (Fig. 1d) to mimic the polar bear hair. and easy fabrications. In addition, the relatively larger radius of
The light collection efficiency of the fibers under this model can fibers was employed to make experimental operation much more
be improved by scattering scratches of the fiber core through easily. Also, the modification effect can be remarkably enhanced by
combining both light scattering and fluorescent processes in the using this kind of PMMA tubes. Consequently, the mentioned
same time. Specifically, the rough inner surface is responsible for materials were utilized, rather other optical fibers in the following
scattering phenomena of light and the wave-guiding property can experiments.

Fig. 1. Design concepts of optically active fibers: (a) Bi component fiber; (b) hollow fiber; (c) surface coated fiber; (d) internal coated hollow fiber.
 H. Jia et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351 347

Table 1
Names, chemical formulas and main fluorescent properties of the utilized dyestuff.

Dyestuff name Chemical formula Max. absorption at (nm) Range of fluorescent light (nm)

Coumarin 1 373 400–500

Coumarin 6 362 380–460

Moreover, two fluorescent dyestuffs, coumarin 1 and coumarin These three temperature detectors were wrapped in thermal in-
6, were selected to modify the PMMA tubes [25,26].Table 1 sum- sulation integument under each base in aiming to compare the
marizes their names, chemical formulas and main fluorescent photo-thermal conversion property of each model. The photo-
properties. In order to homogenize dispersion and improve ad- thermal conversion setup for the characterization of the modified
hesion with inner surface of optical tubes, the fluorescent dye- tube properties is showed schematically in Fig. 2. There were also
stuffs were dissolved into starch solution over 20 min in an ul-
two control samples which included an optical selective absorp-
trasonic bath. According to preliminary experiment, the dyestuff
tion base and an untreated tube matrix bonded with optical se-
concentration was adjusted as 0.5 g/L to reach its saturation state
lective absorption base. Besides, the ambient temperature was
in solution in the ensuing experiments. Besides, a certain amount
of starch was added into the prepared solution to act as a thick-
ening agent and its concentration was around 0.2 g/L.

3.2. Modification method

In order to meet the designed goals, the fluorescent dyestuffs

solution was injected into the core of the optical tubes by an in-
jector, and then the inner coated tubes were frozen for 12 h. After
freeze drying process, the water component could be sublimated
to achieve an inner incomplete filling structure in optical tubes.
The ideal model of Fig. 1d has been fully demonstrated by this
method. On the contrary, when it came to express the design idea
of Fig. 1c, the solvent of coating matrix was treated by evaporation
method rather than the freeze drying process.

3.3. Characterization methods

The cross-sectional morphologies of fiber samples were char-

acterized by stereoscopic microscope (NIKON SMZ745T) under a
magnification of 10. Optical measurements were performed using
a dual-beam ultraviolet–visible-near-infrared (UV–VIS–NIR) spec-
trophotometer (Lambda 35, Perkin-Elmer Inc.) with a 50-mm
diameter integrating-sphere attached. And the thermal insulation
properties were measured by textile thermal resistance tester
(YG606E, Ningbo textile instrument).
The different fluorescent properties of these modified samples
were measured by fluorescence spectrometer. Stokes shift is a
purely molecular affect as absorbed photons are emitted at lower
energy, causing a spectral shift to the higher wavelength [27]. This
phenomenon is presented by the wave number difference be-
tween the maximum absorption peak position and maximum
emission peak position.
For measuring the photo-thermal property, a 4
4 modified
tube matrix has been bonded on an optical selective absorption
base (а ¼ 0.95, ε ¼0.05). In addition, the data collecting system
consists of a computer and four thermocouples. A 150 W solar Fig. 2. Photo-thermal conversion setup was designed for characterization of the
light energy harvesting properties of each device. Measured devices included
simulator(SOLAREDGE700, PERFECT LIGHT, China)was used as a modified tubes selective absorption plate with modified tube matrix above (A),
radiation source, and its light intensity was measured to be 100 W/ selective absorption plate with untreated tube matrix above (B), selective absorp-
m2 with an irradiatometer (SOLAR-1, TIANNUO Co. Ltd., China). tion plate (C).
348 H. Jia et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351

measured as well. To further quantitatively characterize the photo-

thermal conversion properties of each device, the normalized
temperature difference, Ti, was introduced, which calculated by
ts − ta
Ti = ,
G (2)

where ts is the steady temperature of the collector, ta is the am-

bient temperature, and G is the radiation intensity.

4. Results and discussion

The preparation of coating solution is a most crucial process to

express the expected models with uniform coating. To determine
the significant improved adhesion effect of fluorescent dyestuff
with optical tubes' inner surface by introducing starch into coating
matrix, the interfaces between hollow PMMA tubes and their in-
ner coatings were photographed by stereoscopic microscope. The
Fig. 4. The excitation and emitting spectrum of the coumarin 6 without starch (a
differences of interfaces between hollow tubes and inner coatings
and b) and with starch modification (c and d).
with or without physically absorbed starch could be obviously
analyzed and compared in Fig. 3. It can be clearly seen from the
two images that both quality and adhesion of inner coatings had
been enhanced. To be specific, there is almost no dyestuff can
adhere to inner surface of the tube when not using starch while
the adhesion of dyestuff to the tube had greatly improved after
using starch. And the average weight of the tubes after coating was
increased by 0.06 g/cm after starch treatment. However, without
starch treatment, the average weight of the tubes after coating was
approximately 0.003 g/cm after coating and the tubes exhibit a
diameter of 3 mm.
To explore the influence of starch on fluorescent property of
fluorescent dyestuffs, the excitation and emission spectrum of
coumarin 6 with and without starch were compared. As shown in
Fig. 4, the fluorescent property of coumarin 6 was enhanced by
mixing some certain amount of starch. The peak value of excita-
tion spectrum of coumarin 6 with starch was nearly as twice large
as that of pure coumarin 6. This was because that the starch as-
sisted the dispersing of dyestuffs in the solution more evenly, so
also to prevent the precipitating of the solids in the aqueous.
Fig. 5. The emitting spectra of hollow tube coated with Comourin1 under different
The element of fluorescent concentration in the matrix was concentration of 0.1 g/L and 0.5 g/L for the excitation wavelength of 405 nm.
also a worthy considering factor. The emitting spectra of hollow
tubes coated with comourin 1under different concentrations were experimental data, it can safely draw the conclusion that under a
measured. As shown in Fig. 5, the peak value of the emitting
concentration of 0.5 g/L, the treated fluorescent dyestuffs were
spectra of hollow tube coated with comourin 1 at a fixed of con-
able to achieve a better and sufficient fluorescent property.
centration of 5 g/L was nearly 1.25 times larger than the con-
Furthermore, the freeze drying time was another critical ele-
centration of 0.1 g/L. While the integral area under the curve from
ment for the fabrication of an optical tube model. As can be seen
400 nm to 550 nm for the concentration of 0.5 g/L was 1.26 times
larger than that of the concentration of 0.1 g/L. From the from Fig. 6, the mass of inner coating decreased with the increase

Fig. 3. Images of the interface between hollow tube and inner coating without starch (a) and with starch (b).
 H. Jia et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351 349

Table 2
Heat conductivity coefficient of each sample.

Heat conductivity coefficient W/(m  K)

Untreated solid PMMA tube 1.81 7 0.05

Untreated hollow PMMA tube 1.45 7 0.06
Inner coated untreated PMMA tube 1.147 0.03

Fig. 6. The variation of coating content dependent on freeze drying time.

of freeze drying time as the water component could be sublimated

during this process. And the inner coating of these two fluorescent
dyestuffs tended to remain stable after 80 min, with the similar
coating thickness.
To compare the fluorescent effect differences of coumarin 1 and
coumarin 6 on optical fiber model, the fluorescence spectrum of
optical tube with the two dyestuffs were measured respectively. As Fig. 8. Fluorescence spectra of optical tubes designed in different models.
shown in Fig. 7, the fluorescent intensity of coumarin 1 was much
stronger than that of coumarin 6, while coumarin 6 had a broader
coating with the dyestuff of coumarin 1. And the fluorescent
stokes shift. It was more importantly to note that the absorption
property of hollow tube with inner coating having a diameter
efficiency of ultraviolet energy could be improved by coating with
3 mm was the strongest among the five tubes. The fluorescent
coumarin 1, as the thermal effect of these wavelength positions of
performance of hollow tubes with inner coating shows a better
light was weak. Therefore, the solar thermal harvesting property
efficiency when the diameter increased from 2 mm to 3 mm. By
could be enhanced by coating with coumarin 1.
comparison, the fluorescent performance of solid tube with out-
In addition, the heat conductivity coefficient of untreated solid
side coating was stronger than that of the hollow tube with inner
PMMA tube, untreated hollow PMMA tube, and inner coated un-
coating in the same diameter of 2 mm. The main reason of these
treated PMMA tube were measured, shown in Table 2. It was de- results was related to a much more quantity of introduced fluor-
monstrated that the thermal insulation property of inner coated escent dyestuffs into the core of tubes. Hence, it was confirmed the
PMMA tube was best amongst these tube samples. importance of introduced starch for improving the fluorescent
The Fig. 8 illustrates the fluorescent properties of different dyestuffs’ adhesion effect. And selecting hollow tube having a
models. As it was shown that the fluorescent properties of un- diameter 3 mm was essential in the ensuing experiments.
treated optical tubes were extremely weak, although the solid one Additionally, when it comes to the tube transparency of dif-
was stronger than the hollow one in the aspect of fluorescence. ferent models, there is no doubt that the coating of outside surface
However, the fluorescent properties could be greatly improved by would reflect more percentages of the utilized sunlight for this
system. However, the inner coating of the tube would achieve
more solar energy from sunlight source. The Fig. 9 illustrates the
surface reflectivity of solid PMMA tube, hollow tube coated by
coumarin 1 inside and solid tube coated by coumarin 1 outside in
detail. It was extremely significant that the PMMA tube could
decrease by inner coating in wavelength field from 200 to
1200 nm, especially from 400 to 600 nm caused by fluorescent
dyestuff. To be specific, light scattering processes and combined
fluorescent processes in the hair core could aid the coupling of
light into the tube and guild it along the axial direction. When the
tube was outside coated by fluorescent dyestuff, the reflectivity
would increase correspondingly. Hence, inner coating was a sig-
nificantly effective method to decrease the surface reflectivity of
optical tube.
Thus, the hollow optical tube (d ¼3 mm) modified by coumarin
1 coated having a concentration of 5%was selected for the ensuing
photo-thermal conversion measurement according to the above
described experiment. The samples for measurement were
Fig. 7. Excitation spectrum(A) and emitting spectrum(B) of optical tube model
showed in Fig. 10, including selective absorption plate with mod-
modified by coumarin6;Excitation spectrum(C) and emitting spectrum(D) of optical ified tube matrix above, selective absorption plate with untreated
tube model modified by coumarin1;. tube matrix above, and selective absorption plate.
350 H. Jia et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351

Fig. 9. Surface reflectivity of samples including untreated hollow tube, hollow tube
coated by coumarin 1 inside and solid tube coated by coumarin 1 outside. Fig. 11. Temperature variations of all measuring devices are shown for selective
absorption plate with modified tube matrix above (A), selective absorption plate
with untreated tube matrix above (B), selective absorption plate (C), ambient
temperature (D).
Based on temperature detectors, the photo-thermal conversion
properties of each device were recorded. From Fig. 11, it can be 5. Conclusions
obviously seen that the photo-thermal conversion property of the
selective absorbing plate with modified tube matrix above was A new photo-thermal conversion model based on polar bear
hair has been proposed, which features high photo-thermal con-
enhanced. To be specific, the modified tube matrix has a constant
verting properties and outstanding heat insulation properties. It
temperature of 18 °C, which was higher than that of pure selective
was proved that the utilization of fluorescent dyestuff was very
absorption plate. In contrast, the selective absorption plate with
important to enhance the photo-thermal conversion efficiency.
untreated tube matrix did not show a similar effect. According to Also it was demonstrated that coumarin 1 was more effective
the mentioned calculation formula (2), the steady normalized compared with coumarin 6. Besides, it could improve the cohe-
temperature differences of A, B and C were 5.6, 3.5, 3.4 °C m2/W siveness between the dyestuffs and inner core of PMMA tubes by
respectively. introducing a certain amount of starch into the prepared coating
As a result, the effective absorption area of the samples was solution, which helps to assemble more dyestuff on the fabricated
really limited, i.e. the absorption plate (1.44 cm2), and it is obvious energy harvesting device. The freeze drying process has also de-
that bigger areas will result in better energy harvesting. Therefore, monstrated to be an effective procedure for inner coating during
the photo-thermal conversion property of selective absorption the device fabrication. In comparison to previous models, which
plate with modified tube matrix indicated above was rather con- widely use the outside fluorescent coating techniques and thus
siderable. Moreover, the expected photo-thermal energy conver- damage the low reflectivity of the optical fiber, this new photo-
thermal conversion fiber model presents more outstanding
sion property has been achieved by an introduction of fluorescent
features.
dyestuffs.
After inner coating process, the low reflectivity performance
To prove the reproducibility of this device, 10 repeated ex-
can be enhanced, which is beneficial for absorbing more sunlight.
periments of different samples were conducted and same experi-
Apart from that, outside coating can still be further introduced to
mental results could be obtained as well. Hence, the as-developed largely increase the solar energy utilization efficiency. Moreover,
device exhibited a good reproducibility and performed well with a the hollow structure used in this model can not only improve the
reliable feature. device's thermal insulation property, but also provide inner

Fig. 10. Samples for photo-thermal conversion measurement: selective absorption plate with modified tube matrix above (A), selective absorption plate with untreated tube
matrix above (B), selective absorption plate (C).
 H. Jia et al. / Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 159 (2017) 345–351 351

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