Mohammad Irani - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Ali Mousavian - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Ali Reza Keshtkar - Nuclear Fuel Cycle School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Novel organic-inorganic hybrid membranes were prepared through sol-gel reaction of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (TMPTMS). The membranes were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, EDAX and BET analysis. FTIR spectra of PVA/TEOS/TMPTMS indicate that the TMPTMS have been introduced successfully into the PVA/TEOS structure. The change in surface of the PVA/TEOS/TMPTMS in SEM image indicatesthat metal ions successfully interact with functional groups of the membrane. The results of lead, cadmium, nickel and uranium ions adsorption onto the PVA/TEOS/TMPTMS hybrid membranes with different weight percents of TEOS and TMPTMS show that the optimum weight percent of TEOS and TMPTMS are 20% and 15% ,respectively

PVA ، TEOS ، TMPTMS hybrid membrane, sol-gel, functional groups, heavy metals,adsorption