We give an overview about the status and current trends for fuel cell membranes. The paper highlights aspects of material design but also provides details concerning membrane manufacturing technology and the costs estimated or projected for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) developed for different types of applications. In addition to the description of membranes for the most common type of fuel cells, which is operated with pure hydrogen as fuel at temperatures around 80 degrees C and relies on perfluorosulfonic acid type membranes such as Nafion (R), special focus is given to two auspicious subcategories of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells: high temperature PEFCs with phosphoric acid-doped polybenzimidazole type membranes and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) with perfluorosulfonic acid or hydrocarbon type membranes. Where applicable, this is being illustrated with relevant details from the fuel cell research at Forschungszentrum Julich's IEF-3. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.