Fabrication and morphological control of electrospun ethyl cellulose nanofibers

Ethyl cellulous (EC) fibrous films were fabricated via electrospinning from solutions with various DMF/acetone volume ratios and the hydrophobic properties were investigated. The morphology of electrospun EC films reveals a conversion from beads to uniform nanofibers by decreasing the DMF/acetone ratio. Pure DMF solution leads to bead structures while uniform nanofibers can be obtained from DMF/acetone ratio of 2/3. The fibrous surfaces of electrospun EC films greatly improve their hydrophobicity with the average water contact angles range from 138° to 151°, exceeding that of spin-coating film (59°). The highest contact angle (151°) was found on the bead-on-string films prepared from the solution with DMF/acetone ratio of 4/1. For this hydrophobic capacity, the electrospun EC films would broaden their applications in the fields of coating and encapsulation.