Inspired by the surface of the insect skin, a special nanostructure was grown on the membrane surface that is the key for omniphobic membrane which is able to treat low surface energy wastewater. The technique of omniphobic membrane combined with membrane contactors has the opportunity to become a trend in the future for water resources, carbon capture, valuable minerals recoveryhigh-purity drug crystallization.

The omniphobic membranes fabricated via a facile approach were presented. For DMCD, the membranes had the best ability to enhance wetting resistance,the permeate water flux was maintained for 24 h using a 2.0 mM SDS solution as an initial feed. The re-entrant structures created by the nanoparticles enabled a non-wetting Cassie-Baxter state even for the feed with a very low surface tension.

The successful development of omniphobic membranes will be possible to become a new bright for water resources, carbon capture, minerals recoveryhigh-purity drug crystallization. Furthermore, this will enable Taiwan to keep the key materials as well as process techniqueslay the foundation for the crucial technology to take root in Taiwan.