Research and development was conducted on a H-2/air micro proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack to investigate the polarization curves under different operating conditions, such as temperature, pressure, and humidification of the H-2 gas streams. A novel design of copper metal bipolar plates (BPs) was developed as well as fabricated in-house and used in this fuel cell stack. The performance of the stack was tested and the methodology as well as associated technology found to be promising for the first time on micro PEM fuel cell stack with an innovative bipolar plate design and fabrication. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.