Robust control of the PEM fuel cell air-feed system via sub-optimal second order sliding mode

► Control of air-feed system of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). ► Nonlinear modeling of fuel cell with formalization of parametric uncertainties. ► Robust nonlinear second order sliding mode controller in cascaded structure. ► Hardware-In-Loop simulation based on a commercial twin screw air compressor and a real time fuel cell emulation system.