  In almost 30 years of PEM fuel cell modeling, countless numerical models have
been developed in science and industrial applications, almost none of which
have been fully disclosed to the public. There is a large need for
standardization and establishing a common ground not only in experimental
characterization of fuel cells, but also in the development of simulation
codes, to prevent each research group from having to start anew from scratch.
Here, we publish the first open standalone implementation of a full-blown,
steady-state, non-isothermal two-phase model for low-temperature PEM fuel
cells. It is based on macro-homogeneous modeling approaches and implements the
most essential through-plane transport processes in a five-layer MEA. The focus
is on code simplicity and compactness with only a few hundred lines of clearly
readable code, providing a starting point for more complex model development.
The model is implemented as a standalone MATLAB function, based on MATLAB's
standard boundary value problem solver. The default simulation setup reflects
wide-spread commercially available MEA materials. Operating conditions
recommended for automotive applications by the European Commission are used to
establish new fuel cell simulation base data, making our program a valuable
candidate for model comparison, validation and benchmarking.
