Yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BZY) is accepted as one of the most promising electrolyte materials for protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs). For the development of fuel cells with the BZY electrolytes, evaluation of electrode performance is important. In this work, electrochemical measurements of an electrolyte supported cell, Pd (wet H-2) vertical bar BaZr0.8Y0.2O3-delta vertical bar La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-delta (wet O-2), were performed at 600 degrees C in a three-electrode system. The ohmic resistances of the electrolyte under open circuit condition and DC current flow were evaluated by AC impedance and current interruption measurements, respectively. Overpotentials of cathode and anode are determined to be 0.587 and 0.053 V at 100 mAcm(-2), respectively, and exhibit a logarithmic relationship with current density. The results clearly indicate that high cathode overpotential is a significant problem restricting the fuel cell performance. (C) The Author(s) 2014. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-NC-ND, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is not changed in any way and is properly cited. For permission for commercial reuse, please email: [email protected]. All rights reserved.