Abstract: Disclosed herein is a ceramic membrane for water and/or wastewater treatment, the membrane comprising a ceramic substrate having at least one surface and a membrane layer comprising core-shell particles on the at least one surface, where the core and shell are formed from materials described herein. The core of the core-shell particles is formed from one or more of the group selected from Al2O3 and ZrO2, and the shell of the core-shell particles is formed from one or more of the group selected from SiO2, TiO2 and WO3. In a preferred embodiment, the core is Al2O3 and the shell is SiO2.

Abstract: There is provided an inorganic hierarchical porous membrane comprising at least two layers, wherein each layer of the at least two layers comprises a different average pore size as compared to another layer of the at least two layers, and wherein the membrane comprises a patterned surface. There is also provided a method of forming the membrane.