Robust all-inorganic hydrophobic BN nanosheets coated β-sialon membrane for membrane distillation

In order to achieve efficient salt wastewater treatment, membrane distillation (MD) can be used because it is one of the most promising methods. The essential component of MD is a hydrophobic membrane with high stability. In this paper, boron nitride nanosheets were homogeneously deposited on the grains of the β-sialon ceramic membrane by chemical vapor deposition, leading to an all-inorganic BN nanosheets coated β-sialon (BNSL) membrane. The produced membrane manifests hydrophobic properties with a static hydrophobic wetting angle of above 145°. Desalination tests with a feed of 4 wt% NaCl solution, a satisfactory MD performance was recorded, which remained stable for more than 200 h. The results qualify the produced BNSL membrane for further consideration in the field of MD.