A gas-tight yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte film was fabricated on porous NiO-YSZ anode substrates by a modified slurry coating, i.e., a pressure-assisted slurry-casting technique. The SEM results showed that the YSZ film was fully dense with a thickness of 26 mu m. Combined with a screen-printed La(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO(3) (LSM)-YSZ cathode, a single fuel cell was tested in a temperature range from 650 to 850 degrees C with humidified hydrogen as fuel and ambient air as oxidant. The open circuit voltage (OCV) of over 1.0 V was observed, which suggested that the fuel leakage across YSZ film was negligible. The maximum power density at 650, 700, 750, 800 and 850 degrees C were 208, 513, 837, 1116 and 1234 mW/cm(2), respectively. The results of impedance measurements revealed that the activation energy for the total ohmic resistance of the cell and for the total electrode polarization was 66.1 and 101.7 kJ/mol, respectively The cell performance was essentially governed by the electrode polarization. A short-term stability testing of the cell for 5 h showed that the fuel cell was quite stable in the testing procedure. (C) 2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.