The microstructure has a great impact on the performance of solid oxide fuel/electrolyzer cells while the cell fabrication parameters mainly determine the microstructure of the cell components. In this study, a number of five-layered cells with 16 cm(2) active area are fabricated and the effects of several cell fabrication parameters including sintering temperature and electrode composition on the hydrogen production performance are investigated. The experimental results showed that the optimum sintering temperature of the electrolyte, cathode and anode should be 1400 degrees C, 1250 degrees C and 1075 degrees C, respectively, while the solid weight ratio of both NiO-ScSZ cathode and LSM-ScSZ anode functional layer should be 1:1. The optimized cell produces 38 Sccm H-2 at an operation temperature of 800 degrees C and 1.5 V. Then, the cell size is increased to a commercial size of 81 cm(2) active area. The final cell exhibits an acceptable H-2 production of 154 Sccm H-2 at 800 degrees C and 1.5 V. The relatively lower performance of the commercial-size cell is attributed to the inadequate current distribution/collection due to the increased surface area. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.