There is an increased interest in implementing distillation membranes in desalination technologies due to their potential for high chemical resistance and ability to reject nonvolatile contaminants. Distillation membranes are typically hydrophobic in nature therefore, when they are submerged into a wastewater stream, an air liquid interface is formed and driving forces such as heat, pressure or concentration cause the water to evaporate at the interface and transport through the membranes as vapor water. This mechanism allows for full rejection of nonvolatile contaminants from the feed stream. While distillation membranes have benefits over commercial membranes, they also suffer drawbacks. Like most membranes distillation membranes are susceptible to the buildup of material on their surface, otherwise called fouling. This causes the eventual decline of the membrane’s performance through either clogging of the membranes pores or water penetrating through the air-gap leading to pore wetting and eventual loss of the highly selective nature of these membranes. The purpose of this dissertation research is to understand the surface and materials properties of distillation membranes for their eventual application as air-gap membranes in desalination technologies. As a first objective, we aim to understand the full extent of commercial distillation membranes chemical resistance to oxidative disinfection chemicals. From this information, we probe methods to modify commercially available distillation membranes to prevent fouling and wetting. We investigate how low power plasma technologies can create omniphobic surfaces to prevent pore wetting. Then we explore utilizing an atomic layer deposition process to create self-cleaning catalytically active distillation membranes to prevent fouling. Lastly, we explored ways to improve the flux of distillation membranes in pressure driven processes through the informed design of their pore structures. Overall, this dissertation research provides insight into the design and subsequent fabrication of highly oxidative resistant distillation membranes that can resist fouling and wetting.