By introducing appropriate amounts of monomer and crosslinker (about 10 wt.% of the 8YSZ and NiO powders), high quality porous NiO-8YSZ substrates for planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been fabricated via a gel-casting process. Due to the initiating effect of the NiO in the slurry, no additional initiator was needed to facilitate methacrylamide (MAM) polymerization. Sintering at 1300 degrees C for 10 h and subsequent reduction at 700 degrees C for 3 h resulted in Ni-8YSZ anode substrates with the total porosity above 40 vol.%. The measured conductivity was in good agreement with the calculated value, indicating a homogeneous distribution and good connectivity. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.