NOVELTY - Anode-supported planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) prepared by: (i) preparing powder of nickel (Ni)-YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) functional anode; (ii) preparing slurries of Ni-YSZ functional anode, nickel oxide (NiO)-YSZ support and YSZ electrolyte; (iii) casting; (iv) drying and cutting; (v) laminating; (vi) removing the organics; (vii) sintering; (viii) applying by screen printing a lanthanum strontium manganese oxide (La(Sr)MnO3, LSM)-YSZ composite cathode paste over the YSZ electrolyte of the half cell; (ix) drying.    USE - Preparing anode-supported planar SOFC (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The process leads to improved electrocatalytic reaction at the anode-electrolyte interface and hence, improved performance in the resultant cells having such functional anode which is well bonded to a 10-15 mu m thin and gas-tight YSZ electrolyte layer that, in turn, has successive adherent layers of semi-porous LSM-YSZ cathode and porous LSM cathode current collector on top.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Preparation of anode-supported planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), involves: (i) preparing powder of nickel (Ni)-YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) functional anode containing 15-35 vol% Ni, preferably 30 vol% by electroless technique; (ii) preparing slurries of Ni-YSZ functional anode, nickel oxide (NiO)-YSZ support and YSZ electrolyte by ball milling the respective powders for a period in the range of 35-60 hours using a two component organic vehicle consisting of toluene and ethanol as solvent, menhaden fish oil as dispersant, a porosity generator, polyvinyl butyral as binder and benzyl butyl phthalate as plasticizer; (iii) casting the respective slurries as obtained in step (ii) under doctor blade over flat surface; (iv) drying the cast slurries as obtained in step (iii) for 3-24 hours at a temperature range of 25-30 degrees C followed by cutting the dried tapes to 12 cm x 12 cm; (v) laminating together in the temperature range of 25-30 degrees C, 1-30 numbers of such Ni-YSZ cut tapes embedded between 0-29 numbers of NiO-YSZ tapes of same size at one end and one number of YSZ tape of same size on the other end in an uniaxial press to form a monolithic block; (vi) removing the organics from the green laminated monolithic block as obtained in step (v) by co-firing in air at 1000-1100 degrees C under a controlled heat treatment schedule for a period ranging between 3-6 hours with an intermediate dwell time of 3 hours each at 200-250 degrees C and 550-600 degrees C; (vii) sintering the pre-sintered blocks as obtained in step (vi) at a temperature in the range of 1300-1450 degrees C, preferably 1400 degrees C for a period ranging between 4-8 hours to get SOFC half-cell comprising thin and gas tight zirconia electrolyte layer well bonded to porous nickel oxide-zirconia functional anode support; (viii) applying by screen printing a 10-20 mu m thick layer of lanthanum strontium manganese oxide (La(Sr)MnO3, LSM)-YSZ (in 1:1 wt. ratio) composite cathode paste over 9 cm x 9 cm area of the YSZ electrolyte of the half cell as obtained in step (vii); (ix) drying the screen printed cells as obtained in step (viii) at temperatures between 40-60 degrees C for 1-2 hours to remove the solvents from the LSM-YSZ paste; (x) applying by screen printing 50-70 mu m thick layer of LSM cathode current collector paste over the dried screen printed LSM cathode area as obtained in step (ix) followed by drying at about 60 degrees C for 3 hours; (xi) co-firing the dried screen printed cells, as obtained in step (x) at temperatures between 1000-1050 degrees C for a period of 2-4 hours in a controlled manner to obtain anode-supported planer solid oxide fuel cells of dimension up to 10 cm x 10 cm x 1.5 mm.