The increasing demand for renewable energy sources has intensified interest in ethanol as a sustainable fuel alternative. However, achieving high-purity ethanol requires efficient dehydration methods. This study presents a systematic investigation into the pervaporation (PV) performance of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes enhanced with ceria (CeO2) and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified ceria nanoparticles (NPs). A comprehensive characterization of intrinsic and surface structure of the prepared membranes was performed using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. As a remarkable finding, the results indicate that the synergy between ceria NP and PEG modifications enhances membrane hydrophilicity and separation factor (α), making them promising candidates for efficient ethanol dehydration. Among the developed membranes, Ce-0.3 and Ceg-0.1 demonstrated notable PV performance, with PSI values of 1309 g/m2h (a 2.8-fold increase) and 3014 g/m2h (a 6.5-fold increase), respectively, compared to Pure PES, significantly higher than the performance of the unmodified membrane.

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