Formation of Polypropylene Thin Films with Superhydrophobic Surface

The effects of process parameters for the formation of polypropylene film such as the polypropylene concentration in the solution, drying temperature for coating film, and variation of nano-silica content on the surface structure and property of polypropylene film have been studied. A super-hydrophobic polypropylene film with a maximum contact angle of 154° was obtained at the condition of a polypropylene concentration of 30 mg/mL, a drying temperature of 30 ℃, a drying pressure of 93 mtorr for 90 min. The increase of a drying temperature reduced the contact angle by enhancing the surface smoothness of the film. The increase of nano-silica content in the composite film composed of polypropylene and silica changed the surface shape from microporous to microglobular, which led to increasing the contact angle and showed the super-hydrophobic surface property.