A two-dimension,steady-state,multi-component transport model is presented to investigate the cathode performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with an interdigitated gas distributor.Darcy law is used to describe the flow in the porous media.Subsequently,the model is applied to predict the pressure,velocity and mass fraction distributions in the electrode and explore the effect of the change of differential pressure between the inlet and the outlet,electrode thickness and rib width on the performance of fuel cell.The results show that: current density creases with the higher differential pressure between the inlet and outlet,but the increment is diminishing;electrode thickness has an optimum value which depends on the electrode morphology and the gas distributor design parameters;using narrower electrode rib can improve the performance of fuel cell.