Abstract

The further advance of membrane distillation (MD) is hampered due to inadequate membrane durability challenged by wetting-induced performance deterioration. The current study presents a novel approach to fabrication of superhydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes via construction of hierarchical textures on membrane surfaces based on a nanocasting strategy. Two types of PVDF membranes with different surface textures were prepared, separately using a stainless-steel mesh (SSM) or its negative polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) template as a fabrication substrate. The obtained membranes were systematically characterized in terms of membrane morphology, wetting behavior, MD performance, and antifouling performance. Consequently, the PDMS-based membrane obtained a plaited surface texture, resulting in a high static contact angle of ~153° and a high sliding angle of >90°. The resultant parahydrophobic membrane surface resembled a petal surface. The SSM-based membrane obtained a wave-like pattern, resulting in a high static contact angle of ~164° and a low sliding angle of ~6.8°. The resultant superhydrophobic membrane surface resembled a lotus leave surface. Moreover, both membranes achieved higher water flux and enhanced antifouling performance with no significant compromise in salt rejection. Particularly, the SSM-based membrane achieved the highest flux and best antifouling performance, suggesting promising applications in various fields.

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