A 3D numerical model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with the installation of baffle plates is developed. The majority of the conservation equations and physical parameters are implemented through the user defined functions (UDFs) in the FLUENT software. The characteristics of mass transport and performance of PEMFC are investigated. The results reveal that the baffle plate can enhance the mass transport efficiency and the performance of PEMFC. The baffle plate installed in the PEMFC flow channel increases the local gas velocity, which can promote the reactant gas transport and the liquid water removal in the porous electrode. As a result, the reactant gas concentration is larger in the porous electrode, which enhances the fuel cell performance for decreasing the over potential of concentration. The fuel cell output power increases with the blockage ratio of the baffle plate. Considering the extra pumping power resulted from pressure loss caused by the baffle plate, the fuel cell with the blockage ratio of 0.8 is found to perform best in terms of the fuel cell net power generation. The fuel cell performance increases first with the baffle plate number, due to the better reactant distribution and water management, but decreases when the baffle plate number is too large, due to the excessive blockage for the reactant gas transport to the channel downstream. The PEMFC investigated with 5 baffle plates in the channel is found to be optimal. A channel design to achieve gradually increasing blockage ratios is also proposed, which exhibits better cell performance than the design with even blockage ratios. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.