Superhydrophobic electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) with a fully interconnected porous web structure and high void volume fraction have been proposed for membrane distillation (MD). This study describes a novel and facile design strategy for the fabrication of superhydrophobic and self-cleaning polysulfone-polydimethylsiloxane (PSU-PDMS) ENMs for direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) via electrospinning PSU nanofibers followed by PDMS coating and cold-press post-treatment. A comprehensive investigation of the effects of PDMS concentration and cold-press post-treatment pressure on the membrane surface morphology, wettability, membrane characteristics and DCMD performance was carried out. The best ENM in this study, PSUPDM- 1-4, prepared with 1 g PDMS in 40 mL hexane and 4 MPa applied cold-press post-treatment pressure, exhibited a competitive permeate flux of about 21.5 kg/m(2)h and a stable low permeate concentration with an electrical conductivity of 4.224 - 4.523 mu S/cm when using 30 g/L NaCl aqueous solution as feed and a temperature difference of 50 degrees C over a DCMD period of 12 h without detecting inter-fiber space wetting. The proposed PSU-PDMS ENM type of membrane is promising in MD desalination.