Tungsten carbide-based electrodes under mixed hydrogen-methane and methane fuels have been investigated as potential anode materials for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) application. Firstly, it was shown that hydrogen is not a suitable fuel for the carbide-based materials. A conventional WC-YSZ composite and a carbide infiltrated porous YSZ support were then studied. Ac impedance spectroscopy revealed that the ohmic resistance and the charge-transfer polarization of these cells were reasonably low. The chemical reaction polarization, however, was relatively large, particularly under methane fuel. The carbide-based electrodes were then modified by incorporation of ceria and/or ruthenium. Not only did the co-existence of CeO2 and Ru synergically enhance the cell performance, more importantly it also greatly improved the stability of the polarized cell. Although bulk phase analysis confirmed the presence of a minor amount of tungsten oxide, surface analysis showed that the oxide phase remained superficial. It was then proposed that surface oxidation of the carbide phase was essentially a part of the fuel oxidation process and, as long as the rate of carbide oxidation and that of oxide recarburization remained comparable, the cell performance was stable. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.