This paper presents the work on the development of an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The cell consists of a Ni-YSZ anode as the cell support, a 45-mum thick YSZ electrolyte and a screen-printed LSM-YSZ/LSM double-layer cathode. Effect of cell activation and operating conditions such as temperature and airflow rate on the cell performance was investigated. We found that for a newly prepared cell, there was effective activation on electrodes by current treatment, and the improved performance of the cell was actually a consequence of cathode activation. The maximum power density at 800degreesC of this cell with an active area of 0.5 cm(2) is 0.93 W/cm(2) with 500 ml/min of airflow rate. The study also revealed that obtaining cell impedance data under loading provides an alternative way to assess the performance of the SOFC. (C) 2004 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.