Patent ID: 8377997

Claim:
A method of making a proton conductive polymer, comprising: combining a fullerene with a spacer-molecule precursor wherein each of said spacer-molecule precursors is an at least partially fluorinated molecule; forming a plurality of first reaction products; combining said first reaction products with a linking-molecule precursor so as to form a second reaction product, wherein the second reaction product includes at least two of said first reaction products that are connected by a linking molecule formed from the linking-molecule precursor; protonating the second reaction products; and forming a polymeric compound including a proton conductive functional group attached to one or more fullerenes by the spacer molecule that is at least partially fluorinated, wherein the step of forming the first reaction product includes said fullerene having the general formula C 60 and said spacer-molecule precursor having the general formula I—CF 2 —CF 2 —O—CF 2 —CF 2 —SO 2 F, wherein said first reaction product comprises C 60 —(CF 2 —CF 2 —O—CF 2 —CF 2 —SO 2 F) n , where n is a natural number up to about 8.