Efficient cage structured polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane embedded poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes: Thermal degradation and mechanical stability in hydrated condition.

In this work, the thermal degradation of functionalized cage structured polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) incorporated poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl alcohol)‐poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) blend membranes were discussed. PVA‐PEO/POSS and cross‐linked PVA/POSS systems exhibited excellent improvement in thermal stability at lower loading of POSS as compared to pure PVA and uncross‐linked PVA/POSS system. Uncross‐linked PVA and PVA/POSS systems exhibited mainly two degradation steps. However, cross‐linked PVA/POSS systems showed more degradation steps due to the formation of 3‐dimentional network structure in the polymer. The mechanical stability of PVA/POSS and PVA‐PEO/POSS systems at hydrated state were analyzed and observed a remarkable stability even in the wet condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]