The performance and durability of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is greatly affected by sharp temperature and stress gradients owing to the significant variation in local current density distribution. To improve the uniformity in local current density distribution and enhance the catalyst utilization, this paper proposes use of functionally graded catalyst loading in the cathode catalyst layer along the gas channel. A two-dimensional isothermal numerical model for PEM fuel cells combined with an optimization model was developed to determine the optimum cathode catalyst loadings and the associated local current density distributions for different operating conditions. Experiments were conducted to measure the local current density distribution for graded catalyst loading, using a segmented current collector. The results show that an optimized graded catalyst loading significantly reduces the current density variation along the length of the channel and enhances the catalyst utilization. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.