We report solutions (durable material and degradation prevention method) to minimize the performance degradation of cell components occurring in the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operation. Reliability testing is carried out with the Ni-Nd0.1Ce0.9O2-delta (NDC) anode-supported intermediate temperature-SOFCs. For the cathode materials, single perovskite structured Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-delta (BSCF) and double perovskite structured NdBa0.5Sr0.5Co1.5Fe0.5O5+delta (NBSCF) are prepared and evaluated under harsh SOFC operating conditions. The double perovskite NBSCF cathode shows excellent stability in harsh SOFC environments of high humidity and low flow rate of air. Furthermore, we propose the concurrent fuel and air starvation mode, in which the cell potential is temporarily reduced due to the formation of both fuel-starvation (in the anode) and air-depletion (in the cathode) concurrently under a constant load. This is carried out in order to minimize the performance decay of the stable NBSCF-cell through the periodic and extra reduction of a(H2O) (and a(O2)) in the anode. The operating-induced degradation of SOFCs, which are ordinarily assumed to be unrecoverable, can be completely circumvented by the proposed periodical operation logic to prevent performance degradation (concurrent fuel-starvation and air-depletion mode). (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.