This paper addresses the challenge of degradation prediction in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Traditional methods often struggle to balance accuracy and complexity, particularly under dynamic operational conditions. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes a data-driven approach based on the gated recurrent unit (GRU) neural network, optimized by the grey wolf optimizer (GWO). The integration of the GWO automates the hyperparameter tuning process, enhancing the predictive performance of the GRU network. The proposed GWO-GRU method was validated utilizing actual PEMFC data under dynamic load conditions. The results demonstrate that the GWO-GRU method achieves superior accuracy compared to other standard methods. The method offers a practical solution for online PEMFC degradation prediction, providing stable and accurate forecasting for PEMFC systems in dynamic environments.
