In this paper Fe2O3-SO42-/Nafion (R) composite membranes were prepared by a solution casting method The physico chemical properties of composite membranes were characterized by X ray diffraction (XRD) SEM-EDX and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) The water uptake ability proton conductivity, and methanol permeability of the composite membranes were evaluated and compared with the recast Nafion (R) membrane The results showed that the proton conductivity and the water uptake of the composite membranes were slightly higher than that of the recast Nafion (R) membrane The composite membrane containing 5 wt % Fe2O3-SO42 showed superior ability to suppress methanol crossover and it further improved the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) performances with both 1 M and 5 M methanol feeding, compared with the recast Nafion (R) membrane The preliminary 30 h life time test of the DMFC with the composite membrane with 5% Fe2O3-SO42- indicated that the composite membrane is stable working at the real DMFC operating conditions at least during the test These results suggest the applicability of the composite membranes in DMFCs Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Professor T Nejat Veziroglu All rights reserved.