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The miscibility and mechanical properties of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly acrylic acid (PAA)-composited membranes were studied with molecular simulation. The Flory–Huggins parameters (δ) were calculated to prove the good miscibility of PVA and PAA. The radial distribution functions of hydroxyl and carboxyl atoms and the average number of H-bonds were observed to indicate the degree of physical cross-linking between PVA and PAA. The influences of intermolecular physical cross-linking on the glass transition temperature and mechanical properties were estimated. The results revealed that the PVA/PAA membrane with a composition of 2:3 has the best plastic properties, which exhibits a good application value. All of the simulated results showed good agreement with the experimental data. It indicates that the method presented in this work has a promising application prospect.

A rigorous approach is proposed to model the mean ion activity coefficient for strong electrolyte systems using the Poisson–Boltzmann equation. An effective screening radius similar to the Debye decay length is introduced to define the local composition and new boundary conditions for the central ion. The crystallographic ion size is also considered in the activity coefficient expressions derived and non-electrostatic contributions are neglected. The model is presented for aqueous strong electrolytes and compared with the classical Debye–Huckel (DH) limiting law for dilute solutions. The radial distribution function is compared with the DH and Monte Carlo studies. The mean ion activity coefficients are calculated for 1:1 aqueous solutions containing strong electrolytes composed of alkali halides. The individual ion activity coefficients and mean ion activity coefficients in mixed solvents are predicted with the new equations.