Infiltration of fine-grained electrocatalyst particles into ceramic porous scaffolds is a very effective way to improve electrode performance for low-to-intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Conventionally, fine particles of an electronic or mixed electronic and oxide-ion conducting material are impregnated into an ion conducting porous scaffold. However, this approach usually requires higher infiltrant-loading, therefore tedious repetitive infiltration/drying and calcinations steps, in order to form percolated electron conducting network for effective current collection. In this study, we present an alternative single-step route involving infiltration of an ion conducting Sm-doped CeO(2) (SDC) into an electron conducting cathode porous scaffold as well as anode of a commercial cathode-supported SOFC. A comparative study shows that the cathode polarization can be reduced by a factor of five to thirteen from 700 to 1000 degrees C by the infiltrated SDC. The single-cell performance exhibits a performance improvement by a factor of three from 700 to 800 degrees C. Stability tests within a limited time frame and low current-density show a relatively flat performance for SDC-infiltrated cell and "break-in" behavior for the baseline cell, suggesting electrolyte/cathode interface being activated by the infiltrated electrocatalyst. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.