A laboratory setup was designed and put into operation for the development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The whole project consisted of the preparation of the component materials: anode, cathode and electrolyte, and the buildup of a hydrogen leaking-free sample chamber with platinum leads and current collectors for measuring the electrochemical properties of single SOFCs. Several anode-supported single SOFCs of the type (ZrO2:Y2O3+NiO) thick anode/(ZrO2:Y2O3) thin electrolyte/(La0.65Sr0.35MnO3+ZrO2:Y2O3) thin cathode have been prepared and tested at 700 and 800 degrees C after in situ H-2 anode reduction. The main results show that the slurry-coating method resulted in single-cells with good reproducibility and reasonable performance, suggesting that this method can be considered for fabrication of SOFCs. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.