Novel conductive inorganic fiber/polymer hybrid proton exchange membranes (PEMs) were obtained by taking advantage of sulfated zirconia (S-ZrO(2)) fibers made by electrospinning and post-electrospinning processes. Induced by electrospun inorganic fibers, long-range ionic channels were formed by agglomerating functional groups, which served as continuous hopping pathways for protons and significantly improved the proton conductivity of PEMs. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.