A model dealing with the anode catalyst contamination induced by fuel impurities has been developed. This model can be used to describe the transient and steady-state performance losses. Several characteristics such as performance loss, contamination transient time constant and recovery process have also been introduced into the model. The obtained equations can be used to simulate and estimate the chemical and electrochemical reaction rate constants, and make some prediction about the severity of the contamination and the performance recoverability. Crown Copyright (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.