A comparison of the temperature distributions in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell between the parallel-flow gas distributors and the interdigitated gas distributor has been discussed in detail. An electrochemical-thermal coupled numerical model in a five-layer membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) is developed. The temperatures for the reactant fuels as well as the carbon fibers in the porous electrode are predicted by using a CFD technique. The overpotential across the MEA is varied to examine its effect on the temperature distributions of the PEM fuel cell. It is found that both the fuel temperature and the carbon fiber temperature are increased with increasing the total overpotential. In addition, the fuel and carbon-fiber temperature distributions are significantly affected by the flow pattern that cast on the gas distributor. Replacing the parallel-flow gas distributor by the interdigitated gas distributor will increase the local maximum temperature inside the PEM fuel cell. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All tights reserved.