Physical Structure Induced Hydrophobicity Analyzed from Electrospinning and Coating Polyvinyl Butyral Films

Surface wettability of a film plays a critical role in its practical applications. To control the surface wettability, modification on the physical surface structures has been a useful method. In this paper, we reported the controlling physical surface structure of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) films by different film-forming methods, spin-coating, bar-coating, and electrospinning. The wettability of these PVB films was examined, and the surface morphologies and roughness were investigated. The results indicated that coating PVB films were hydrophilic, while electrospun films were hydrophobic. The physical surface structure was the key role on the interesting transition of their surface wettability. Theoretical analyses on these results found that the coating PVB films showed different mechanism with electrospun ones. These results may help to find the way to control the PVB film surface wettability and then guide for applications.