In this study

cellulose acetate/silica nanoparticles (CA/SiNPs) composite membranes were prepared by electrospinning and PET nonwoven were used as a support layer. Then the fiber mats were modified by immerged into fluoroalkyl silane (FAS) solution. In polymer dope

the mixture of 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and acetone[80/20

%(mass)] was selected as a mixture solvent and the content of CA was 10%(mass). The morphology

pore size distribution and wettability of the composite membranes properties were investigated. The CA and CA/silica fibers were found to be randomly oriented as nonwoven mats with fiber diameters around 0.8 μm. With the addition of SiNPs in the polymer dope

the SEM surface morphology images of flat-sheet composite membranes exhibited a microscale (SiO2 aggregation node) to nanoscale (SiO2 nanoparticles) hierarchical stratum structure. After the FAS modification

the surface wettability of the CA/silica mats was converted from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic. Compared with commercial PVDF membrane

the fluorinated mats with the metastable structure showed the highest water contact angle (WCA) of 156° and exhibited an excellent property of anti-surfactant wettability[4.0 μl 5%(mass)

SDS solution

the contact angle is 125°]. The composite membrane salt rejection rate could reach more than 99.99%; the CA/SiNPs-FAS membrane flux could be stabilized at 11.2 kg·(m2·h)-1 with the feed solution at 60℃ and the cold distillate water at 20℃ during the desalination process of 35 g·L-1 sodium chloride solution through direct contact membrane distillation.