TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The bonding comprises bonding a vinyl group to the silica particulates and reacting the vinyl group with bromine to form a 1,-2-dibrommo-ethyl group bonded to the silica particulates. Preferred Components: The initiator is a 1,2-dibromoalkyl group, preferably a dibromoethyl group. The vinyl group is triethoxy vinyl silane. The precursor monomer comprises a salt of sulfopropyl acrylate. The salt of sulfopropyl acrylate is sulfopropyl acrylate-potassium. The precursor monomer comprises N,N'-methyl-(6-hexylcarbamatoethylmethacrylate)imidazolonium bromide. The solvent comprises water, ethanol and dimethylformamide. The acid is a sulfuric acid.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The oligomeric ionomer comprises: a pendant sulfopropyl group; a sulfopropyl acrylate repeating unit; an N,N'-methyl-(6-hexylcarbamatoethylmethacrylate)imidazolonium bromide repeating unit. The oligomeric ionomer comprises less than 11 repeating units. The ionomer particles comprise a silica core and an oligomeric ionomer bonded to the silica core. The silica core has a core size of about 7 nm. The ionomer particles have an average particle size less than 10 nm. The proton-exchange polymer is a sulfonated perfluoro-polymer. The sulfonated perfluoro-polymer comprises fluorinated polyethene-polypropylene. The composite comprises 2-6 wt.%, preferably 4 wt.% of the ionomer particles. The ionomer particles are uniformly distributed throughout the polymer matrix. The composite is in the form of a membrane or resin. The solution comprises 5-10 wt.% of the proton-exchange polymer. The polymerization comprises atom transfer radical polymerization. EXAMPLE - Poly-sulfopropyl acrylate potassium-silica particles (prepared by dispersing initiator grafted silica powder (prepared by mixing dry vinyl silica powder with chloroform) in water-methanol mixture) were mixed with an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid and further processed to obtain poly-sulfopropyl acrylate silica particles. The obtained poly-sulfopropyl acrylate silica particles were mixed with 2 ml of sulfonated perfluoro-polymer (prepared by dissolving sulfonated perfluoro-polymer resin in a mixture of water, alcohol and dimethyl formamide). The mixture was backed in an oven at 80 degrees C for 30 minutes to remove the solvent and cure the residue. The cured residue was washed with deionized water and dried at room temperature and finally sulfonated perfluoro-polymer membrane doped with poly-sulfopropyl acrylate-silica was obtained.