Anode coking problem of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) when using hydrocarbon fuels has been the major barrier for the practice and commercialization of well-developed high performance SOFC. In this work, based on fuels consideration, we chose liquid methanol as the candidate fuel for SOFC with the configuration of NiO/SDC-SDC-SSC/SDC. For comparison, traditional fuels, hydrogen and ammonia, were tested. With methanol as fuel, the maximum power densities were 698, 430 and 223 mW cm(-2) at 650, 600 and 550 degrees C, respectively, which were higher than that with ammonia and lower than that of hydrogen. The electrochemical properties of the cells with the three fuels were investigated by AC impedance spectroscopy. The long-term stability of the cell with methanol, methane and ethanol were also studied at a constant output voltage of 0.5 V. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.