This work reports on the synthesis and application of a novel, cost-effective and environmentally friendly agar chemical hydrogel (ACH) electrode binder in fuel-electrolyte-fed fuel cells. The ACH is synthesized by a chemical cross-linking reaction between agar and glutaraldehyde with acetic acid as a catalyst. The fuel cell performance characterization demonstrates that the use of the ACH-based electrode in a fuel-electrolyte-fed fuel cell enables an improvement in cell performance as opposed to the use of conventional Nafion ionomer-based electrodes. The improved performance can be mainly attributed to the enhanced mass/charge transport rendered by the hydrophilic nature and water retention characteristic of agar. This work suggests that the cost-effective ACH binder can replace conventional Nafion ionomers for fuel-electrolyte-fed fuel cells. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.