Thick-film electrolyte (< 20 mu m)-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the advantages of both electrolyte-supported and anode-supported cells due to their thin and self-supporting electrolyte layer. A multicell stacking design using a series connection of thick-film electrolyte-supported cells was adopted to avoid the bipolar plates of planar SOFCs. The cell structure of series-connected electrolyte-supported SOFCs (SES-SOFCs) is similar to the segmented-in-series SOFC design but is based on the self-supporting electrolyte. Two cells with 16 mu m thick yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolytes connected in series achieved high performance, i.e., open-circuit voltage of 2.10 V and maximum power density of similar to 460 mW/cm(2) at 800 degrees C.