To make SOFC high efficiency energy generation devices, thin ceramic films are proposed as their main components. The rate of the oxygen reduction reaction is relevant for the overall performance of the SOFC, hence a lot of attention is given to the cathodes and their interfaces. The airbrushed solution combustion (ASC) method was used to fabricate an LSM thin film on a dense YSZ substrate. A single phase LSM perovskite was obtained with very thin and interconnected porosity, and a small average grain size (55 nm). The nano-structured LSM thin film electrode showed a low total activation energy (1.27 eV) at high temperatures, but a high area specific resistance at 850 degrees C (55 Omega.m(2)). The activation energy for the dissociative adsorption and diffusion of oxygen was significantly low (1.27 eV), while the charge transfer and oxygen ion migration activation energy at the LSM/YSZ interface (1.28 eV) was closer to those usually reported. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.