In this work, a solid oxide fuel cell with 60 gm samarium doped ceria film as the electrolyte is fabricated with a co-pressing technique. The performance of the cell is measured at 600, 650 and 700 degrees C. The corresponding maximum power outputs are 236, 331 and 401 mW cm(-2), respectively. The measured current-voltage (I-V) curves are straight lines. A linear discharge model is derived based on the Gorelov and Liu modified electromotive force (EMF) equations. The model fits the measured I-V curves with the maximum errors less than 1.5%. The overall activation overpotential of the cell is therefore postulated to be proportional to the polarization current. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.