In this work, copper and nickel oxides (CuO-NiO) powders with various mole ratios were synthesized by the glycine nitrate process (GNP) and the Cu-Ni alloy was obtained by reducing the CuO-NiO powders at 600 degrees C for 0.75 h. Furthermore, Cu1-xNix (alloy) -CeO2 impregnated YSZ anodes were fabricated by the impregnation method and the optimized anode composition was evaluated. It was found that the optimized mole ratio of Cu:Ni was 5:5, while the weight ratio of Cu Ni alloy to CeO2 was 3:1. Additionally, impregnated anode with 40 wt % loading of Cu0.5Ni0.5 (alloy)-CeO2 exhibited the best performance and the polarization resistance of such anode was only 0.097, 0.115, 0.145 and 0.212 Omega cm(2) at 750, 700, 650 and 600 degrees C, respectively. Finally, the performance of the optimized anode in methane (CH4) was investigated and the carbon deposition is greatly suppressed compared to the Ni-based anode. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.