Polar bear hair grease research may offer a PFAS alternative

A study conducted by University of Bergen and Trinity College researchers has found that polar bear sebum, or hair grease, is as ice-resistant as PFAS. Their discovery may lead to an alternative to fluorocarbon coatings.

Bodil Holst, Ph.D., a nanophysics professor at the University of Bergen in Norway, worked with Julian Carolan, a doctoral candidate at Trinity College in Ireland, to conduct the experiments. They compared polar bear fur obtained from the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, Norway, with fluorocarbon-coated mohair pads (ski skins) and found that the anti-icing properties were similar.

Initially, Holst believed the key to the fur’s deicing properties was the structure of the hair, but they found it was the sebum. In collaboration with Øyvind Halskau, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Bergen’s Department of Biological Sciences, they identified the compounds in the fat that prevented ice buildup. These compounds included cholesterol, diacylglycerols and anteisomethyl-branched fatty acids and can be synthetically produced, offering an alternative
to PFAS-based products such as ski wax.

This research was published Jan. 31 in  Science Advances.