The long-term stability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of two typical perovskite cathode materials of SOFCs, i.e., Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-delta (BSCF) and Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3-delta (SSC), is investigated in a symmetric cell configuration under air condition at 700 degrees C using Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 (SDC) electrolyte substrate and silver current collectors. Moreover, two different methods of silver current collection are tested, i.e., whole electrode surface deposited with a diluted silver paste (CC-01) and a mesh-like current collector using concentrated silver paste (CC-02). Electrochemical impedance spectra are applied for stability investigations. With the CC-01 current collector, the performance of the electrode deteriorates significantly, although the initial performance is good. By contrast, fairly stable performance is obtained from symmetric cells with either BSCF or SSC + SDC electrodes using the CC-02 current collector, even though a phase transition is observed for BSCF. For instance, after approximately 800 h of continuous stability testing, the area-specific resistance of the BSCF electrode retains a value of approximately 0.065 Omega cm(2), except for a slight fluctuation within the range of 0.06-0.07 Omega cm(2). These findings reveal that both BSCF and SSC can be stably operated for ORR under symmetric cell conditions; however, an appropriate current collection method is crucial to achieving stable performance. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.