A solid oxide fuel cell using a thin ceria-based electrolyte film with a Ru-catalyzed anode was directly operated on hydrocarbons, including methane, ethane, and propane, at 600 degreesC. The role of the Ru catalyst in the anode reaction was to promote the reforming reaction of the unreacted hydrocarbons by the produced steam and CO2, which avoided interference from steam and CO2 in the gas-phase diffusion of the fuels. The resulting peak power density reached 750 mW cm(-2) with dry methane, which was comparable to the peak power density of 769 mW cm(-2) with wet (2.9 vol.% H2O) hydrogen. More important was the fact that the cell performance was maintained at a high level regardless of the change in the methane utilization from 12 to 46% but was significantly reduced by increasing the hydrogen utilization from 13 to 42%. While the anodic reaction of hydrogen was controlled by the slow gas diffusion, the anodic reaction of methane was not subject to the onset of such a gas-diffusion process. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.