Patent ID: 8222346

Claim:
A hydrogenated sulfonated block copolymer having the general configuration A-B, A-B-A, (A-B) n , (A-B-A) n , (A-B-A) n X, (A-B) n X or mixtures thereof, where n is an integer from 2 to about 30, and X is coupling agent residue and wherein: prior to hydrogenation each A block is a mono alkenyl arene polymer block and each B block is a controlled distribution copolymer block of at least one conjugated diene and at least one mono alkenyl arene; subsequent to hydrogenation about 0-10% of the arene double bonds have been reduced, and at least about 90% of the conjugated diene double bonds have been reduced; each A block having a number average molecular weight between about 3,000 and about 60,000 and each B block having a number average molecular weight between about 30,000 and about 300,000; each B block comprises terminal regions adjacent to the A blocks that are rich in conjugated diene units and one or more regions not adjacent to the A blocks that are rich in mono alkenyl arene units; the total amount of mono alkenyl arene in the hydrogenated block copolymer is about 20 percent by weight to about 80 percent by weight; the weight percent of mono alkenyl arene in each B block is between about 10 percent and about 75 percent; at least 25% of the aromatic rings of the alkenyl arene are sulfonated; and the hydrogenated sulfonated block copolymer has an ionic conductivity greater than 0.08 siemens/cm.