In the present work, an experimental procedure is developed based on break-in procedure and use of dilute KMnO4 solution to regenerate the CO poisoned Pt black anode electro-catalyst of a PEMFC. To understand the effect of operating temperature on extent of CO poisoning and regeneration of CO poisoned Pt black anode electro-catalyst, PEMFC is operated at 30 degrees C, 50 degrees C and 70 degrees C. At lower cell operating temperature (30 degrees C), KMnO4 solution regenerates CO poisoned Pt black anode catalyst, whereas contribution of break-in procedure towards regeneration is negligible. At 50 degrees C and 70 degrees C, break-in procedure contributes towards recovering the initial performance i.e. 74.6% and 78.8% of the initial current density at 0.2 V respectively and rest is regenerated by use of dilute KMnO4 solution. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.