Аннотация:Proton-conducting membranes were fabricated from a new short-side chain ionomerInion (Russian analogue of Aquivion) by solution casting method. A series of temperature treatmentexperiments was conducted to show that annealing of Inion membranes at the temperature rangefrom 160 °C to 170 °C leads to a significant increase of specific proton conductivity to values evenhigher than those of commercial membrane Nafion NR212. An explanation of this fact can be givenby considering the membranes’ proton transport mechanism and water behavior models innanopores. Matching the proton conductivity mechanism of the membranes, which is realized innanostructured channels with the diameter of about several nanometers according to the Grotthussproton hopping mechanism, and the model of water and ice states in nanopores leads to thecomprehensive understanding for the further optimization of the membranes to achieve hightransport characteristic. For example, it can be improved by increasing the number of side-chainbranches of the polymer.