• • Specific liquid entry pressure of water (LEPw) increased by 31.3% to 0.109 bar μm−1 versus surface-only superhydrophobic membranes, directly translating to a higher wetting threshold and extended operational lifespan under hypersaline conditions.
• • Stable permeate flux of 16.2 kg m−2 h−1 and salt rejection >99.9% were achieved with a 105 g L−1 brine at 70 °C, demonstrating industrial viability for zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) systems where feed concentrations often exceed 100 g L−1.
• • Cyclic MD desalination over 30 h with gypsum-containing saline confirmed sustained pore wetting resistance, addressing the critical scaling failure mode that limits conventional superhydrophobic membranes to <10 h in high-scaling feeds.
• • The dual surface and pore hydrophobicity modification using hydrophobic nanoparticles provides a scalable route to mitigate air-cushion depletion, a primary degradation mechanism that currently forces premature membrane replacement and increases OPEX by an estimated 20–30% in MD plants.