End plates of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) need to be well designed because their strength and rigidity directly affect the clamping pressure distribution and thus affect the performance and lifetime of fuel cell stacks. In this paper, a multi-objective topology optimization model of the end plates in a PEMFC stack with nonlinear contact boundary conditions was established to obtain on optimized structural design. It was found that the design improved with topology optimization is not only light but also meets manufacturability requirements. This provides good guidance for the design of a high-performance end plate. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.