In order to develop a simple and cost-effective route to fabricate protonic ceramic membrane fuel cells (PCMFCs) with layered SmBaCo2O5-chi (SBCO) cathode, a dense BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.2O3-delta (BZCY) electrolyte was fabricated on a porous anode by in situ screen printing. The porous NiO-BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.2O3-delta (NiO-BZCY) anode was directly prepared from metal oxide (NiO, BaCO3, ZrO2, CeO2 and Y2O3) by a simple gel-casting process. An ink of metal oxide (BaCO3, ZrO2, CeO2 and Y2O3) powders was then employed to deposit BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.2O3-delta (BZCY) thin layer by an in situ reaction-sintering screen printing process on NiO-BZCY anode. The bi-layer with 25 mu m dense BZCY electrolyte was obtained by co-sintering at 1400 degrees C for 5 h. With layered SBCO cathode synthesized by gel-casting on the bi-layer, single cells were assembled and tested with H-2 as fuel and the static air as oxidant. A high open-circuit potential of 1.01 V, a maximum power density of 382 mW cm(-2), and a low polarization resistance of the electrodes of 0.15 Omega cm(2) was achieved at 700 degrees C. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.