Ammonia is a possible candidate as the fuel for SOFCs. In this work, the influence on the performance of a tubular SOFC running on ammonia is studied. Analysis of open circuit voltages (OCVs) on the cell indicated the oxidation of ammonia within a SOFC is a two-stage process: decomposition of the inlet ammonia into nitrogen and hydrogen, followed by oxidation of hydrogen to water. For comparison, cell was also tested with hydrogen as the fuel and air as oxidant at different temperatures showing a similar behaviour. The performance of the cell tested under various conditions shows the high potential of ammonia as fuel for SOFCs. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.