Ultra-fine grained dense BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3-delta (BZCYYb) ceramics have been successfully prepared via a two-step sintering method. Co-precipitation method has been adopted to prepare nano-sized BZCYYb precursors with an average particle size of 30 nm. By controlling the sintering profile, an average grain size of 184 nm was obtained for dense BZCYYb ceramics via the two-step sintering method, compared to 445 nm for the conventional sintered samples. The two-step sintered BZCYYb samples showed less impurity and an enhanced electrical conductivity compared with the conventional sintered ones. Further, the two-step sintering method was applied to fabricate anode supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using BZCYYb as the electrolyte, resulting in dense ultrafine-grained electrolyte membranes and porous anode substrates with fine particles. Due to the reduced ohmic as well as polarization resistances, the maximum power output of the cells fabricated from the two-step sintering method reached 349 mW m(-2) at 700 degrees C, significantly improved from 172 mW cm(-2) for the conventional sintered cells, suggesting that two-step sintering method is very promising for optimizing the microstructure and thus enhancing the electrochemical performances for barium cerate based proton-conducting SOFCs. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.