Despite much progress achieved in the past decades in the process of advancing the lowtemperature sintering technologies for Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), such as via the structure design of the electrode materials, the practical application of low-temperature sintered SOFCs (with disqualified mechanical strength) remains challenging. In this work, first, we demonstrate that the appropriate amount of CuO as sintering aids can successfully reduce the co-firing temperature of conventional micron size NiO-YSZ (yttrium-stabilized zirconia (Y2O3)(0.08)-(ZrO2)(0.92)) anode from about 1400 degrees C to only 1100 degrees C. Second, the quantitative structure-activity relationship among the mechanical strength (low-temperature sintering ability) of anode cermets with the inclusion of CuO contents and the densification of YSZ electrolyte was synthetically evaluated, and the optimal Cu-NiO-YSZ anode composition demonstrates almost the equal mechanical strength when compared with the traditional NiO-YSZ anode (sintering at 1400 degrees C). At last, by comprehensive assessment, 8%Cu-52NiO-40YSZ (8%CuO-NiO-YSZ) shows excellent low-temperature sintering ability, high mechanical strength, optimal power output, and anti-carbon deposition when using as hydrocarbon-based anode for SOFCs. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.