TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The conductive polymer is sulfonated and is crystalline. The polymer is a homopolymer having a repeat unit of formulae (IV), (V), (VI) or (VII) or a random or block copolymer of at least two different units of (VI) and/or (VII). -((E-(Ar)-(T3) m-E')A-(T3-CO-(T3)w-G-((T3)r-CO-T3)s-)B-) (IV) -((E-(Ar)-(T3) m-E')C-(T3-SO2-(T3)z-G-((T3)t-SO2-T3)v-)D-) (V) -((T3-CO-(T3) w-G-((T3) r-CO-T3) s-)B-)-(E-(Ar)-(T3)m-E')A)- (VI) -((T3-SO 2-(T3) z-G-((T3) t-SO 2-T3) v-)D-)-(E-(Ar)-(T3)m-E')C)- (VII)A, B, C, D=0 or 1.The conducting polymer includes at least some ketone moieties in the polymeric chain. The polymer is a copolymer comprising a first and second repeat units. The first repeat unit is selected from a) -(O-T1-O-)-T3-C(O)-T3- b) -(O-T1-C(O)-T1)- c) -(O-T1-O)-T3-SO 2-T3- d)-(O-T1-SO 2-T1)- e) -(O-T1-C(O)-T1)-T3-SO 2-T3-. The second repeat unit is selected from f) -(O-T1-T3-O-)-T3-C(O)-T3- g) -(O-T1)-T3-CO-T3- h) -(O-T1-T3-O)-T3-SO 2-T3- i) -(O-T1)-T3-SO 2-T3-. The polymer includes a biphenylene (preferably -O-biphenylene-O-) moiety. A film of the conductive polymer is laminated to the support material.Preferred Support Material: The support material is porous and the conductive polymer is impregnated in the material. The support material comprises the polymer having the moiety of formula (I), (II) and/or (III) except that the polymer of the support material is either sulfonated or not sulfonated at or in the region of the surface of the material. The support material is selected from the following homopolymers of formula (IV) or (V) and from polysulfone. The formula (IV) is selected from: (a), (b), 1) -(O-T1-O)-T3-C(O)-(T3-C(O)-T3)- 2) -(O-T1-C(O)-T3-C(O)-T1)- 3) -(O-T1-C(O)-T1-O)-(T3-C(O)-T3-(C(O)-T3))- 4) -(S-T1)- 5) -(O-T1-SO 2-T1)- 6) -(O-T1-C(CH 3) 2-T1)-O)-(T3-SO 2-T3)-. The conductive polymer has an equivalent weight of less than 800 (preferably less than 500)g/mol.Preferred Method: The method includes impregnating porous support material with the conductive polymer. The method also includes a step of contacting the material (preferably polyetheretherketone fabric or a polyetherketone microporous membrane) which is not soluble in the solvent with the first solvent formulation so that the first solvent solubilizes a surface of the support material. The formulation comprises a polar aprotic solvent in which the conductive polymer is provided. The solvent is capable of functionalizing the material to provide ion-exchange sites on the surface. The first solvent includes less than 99% acid. The support material is contacted with a second solvent (preferably water) to cause phase inversion and render the material porous. The conductive polymer is provided in the third solvent and caused to penetrate pores in the material. EXAMPLE - A piece of PEEK (RTM; polyetheretherketone fabric) having a thickness of 70 mm and weight/unit area of 1.7 x 10 -3 g.cm -2 was clamped in a circular frame and immersed in a 15 wt/wt% solution of sulfonated polyether(biphenyl)etherketone (SPEDEK)/polyetherketoneethersulfone (PEKES) (1:1:5) (prepared from 4,4'-difluorobenzophenone, 4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl, 4,4'-dihydroxydiphenylsulfone and diphenylsulfone). The wetted substrate was placed in vacuum oven at 105 degrees C for 1.5 hours. The dry composite membrane was placed on a glass plate and a 50 mm thick wet coating of the solution of SPEDEK/PEKES in N-methylpyrrolidine (NMP) was applied and dried. The resulting composite membrane had a mean thickness of 70 mm. The membrane was strong and flexible. A comparative composite membrane was similarly prepared from sulfonated (A). The fuel cell performance of the test and the comparative membranes was carried out by pre-treating by boiling in sulfuric acid, allowed to cool to room temperature, followed by thorough washing with deionized water. Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEA) were prepared using standard platinum loaded Nafion (RTM; impregnated gas diffusion electrodes), hot pressed onto the membrane having the active area of 11.8 cm 2. The following operating conditions were followed: hydrogen pressure= 3 Barg; air pressure= 3 Barg; hydrogen stoichiometry= 1.5; air stoichiometry= 3; cell temperature= 50 degrees C; and current density= 0.7A cm -2. The MEA using the comparative membrane punctured after 30 hours, whereas the test membrane continued operating for over 400 hours.