Highly dispersed homogeneous hybrid polymer-inorganic membranes based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), maleic acid (MA) and inorganic silica were synthesized via a sol-gel method. Tetraethoxy-silane (TEOS) was used as the silica precursor with MA as an additional crosslinking agent. A range of techniques such as FTIR, SEM, TGA, XRD and DSC were used to characterise the nanostructure and properties of hybrid membranes. Results revealed silica nanoparticles (<10 nm) were well dispersed in the polymer matrix with chemical bonding between the organic and inorganic phases. Thermal properties of the hybrid membranes were significantly enhanced when compared with pure PVA membranes, and swelling of PVA based hybrid membranes was greatly suppressed.The chemically crosslinked PVA with maleic acid and silica resulted in the formation of new hybrid membranes with improved pervaporation properties for desalination application. The pervaporation separation performance of aqueous salt solution was found to be directly related to the diffusion coefficient of water through hybrid PVA/MA/silica membranes. Introduction of MA and silica at given amounts into the polymer chain increased the amorphous region of the membrane and favoured the diffusion of water molecules through the membrane. A water flux of 6.93 kg/m 2 ·hr with salt rejection of >99.5% was achieved at a 6 Torr vacuum and 22°C.

Hybrid polymer-inorganic membranes were prepared by crosslinking poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), maleic acid (MA) and silica via an aqueous sol-gel route. Membrane characterisation results revealed silica nanoparticles (<10 nm) were well dispersed in the polymer matrix and significantly reduced swelling of the membrane. The membranes were tested for pervaporation separation of aqueous salt solution with NaCl concentrations of 0.2-5.0 wt% at temperatures 20-65°C, feed flowrates 30-150 mL/min and permeate pressures 2-40 Torr. The salt rejection remained high (up to 99.9%) under all operating conditions. A high water flux of 11.7 kg/m 2 ·hr could be achieved at a feed temperature of 65°C and a vacuum of 6 Torr. The effect of operating conditions on water flux is discussed in relation to diffusion coefficients of water and fundamental transport mechanism through the membrane. The activation energy for water permeation was found to vary from 23.8 to 20.1 kJ/kmol when the salt concentration in the feed was increased from 0.2 to 5.0 wt%.

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