The research article explores the use of nickel foams as gas diffusion layers (GDLs) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) to improve their performance. Nickel foams demonstrate more uniform concentration and current distributions, leading to higher oxygen and water concentration and current density compared to conventional carbon fiber-based GDLs. The study introduces a new three-dimensional PEFC model to analyze local and global fuel cell performance with nickel foam-based GDLs. Results indicate that optimizing flow channel dimensions, while considering the pumping power, is crucial for enhancing net power density. The study found that the optimal dimensions for flow channels with nickel foam GDLs were 0.25 mm channel height and 1 mm channel width, resulting in a maximum net power density of around 0.95 W/cm2, which is twice as high as carbon fiber-based GDLs. The findings emphasize the importance of considering the net power density as the criterion for optimization. Overall, the research highlights the significant performance improvements achievable by utilizing nickel foam GDLs in PEFCs.