Yttria-doped strontium titanium oxide (Sr0.92Y0.08TiO3-delta; SYT) was investigated as an alternative anode material for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The SYT synthesized by the Pechini method exhibits excellent phase stability during the cell fabrication processes and SOFC operation and good electrical conductivity (about 0.85 S/cm, porosity 30%) in reducing atmosphere. The performance of SYT anode is characterized by slow electrochemical reactions except for the gas-phase diffusion reactions. The cell performance with the SYT anode running on methane fuel was improved about 5 times by SDC film coating, which increased the number of reaction sites and also accelerated electrochemical reaction kinetics of the anode. In addition, the SDC-coated SYT anode cell was stably operated for 900 h with methane. These results show that the SDC-coated SYT anode can be a promising anode material for high temperature SOFCs running directly on hydrocarbon fuels. Copyright (c) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.