An experimental study to determine the through-plane thermal conductivity of dry Nafion®, various diffusion media, catalyst layer, and the thermal contact resistance between diffusion media and a metal plate as a function of temperature and pressure was performed. Dry Nafion® thermal conductivity was determined to be 0.16±0.03Wm−1 K−1 at room temperature, which decreases to 0.13±0.02Wm−1 K−1 at 65°C. Diffusion media thermal conductivity was found to be function of PTFE content and manufacturer, and was 0.48±0.09Wm−1 K−1 for untreated and 0.22±0.04Wm−1 K−1 for 20wt.% PTFE treated SIGRACET® diffusion media, respectively. Toray diffusion media thermal conductivity was measured to be 1.80±0.27Wm−1 K−1 at 26°C and decreases to 1.24±0.19Wm−1 K at 73°C. The thermal contact resistance between Toray carbon paper and aluminium bronze material was determined to vary from 6.7×10−4 to 2.0×10−4 m2 KW−1 for an increase in compression pressure from 0.4 to 2.2MPa. The equivalent thermal conductivity of a 0.5mgcm−2 platinum loaded catalyst layer was estimated to be 0.27±0.05Wm−1 K−1. A one-dimensional analytical model was also used to estimate the temperature drop in the fuel cell components. A maximum of 3–4°C temperature drop can be expected for a 200μm thick SIGRACET® diffusion media at 1Acm−2. The thermal properties characterized should be useful to help modelers accurately predict the temperature distribution in a fuel cell.