Nanocrystalline powder (30-40 nm) of 2 mol% Ni-doped lanthanum strontium cobaltite (La0.6Sr0.4Co0.98Ni 0.02O3) was synthesized by combustion technique using glycine as fuel with various combinations of fuel to nitrate ratios. The thermal analysis revealed that the crystallization process is not single step and remained incomplete even up to 700°C. In XRD analysis, existence of two minor phases was observed in addition to lanthanum strontium cobaltite phase. One particular synthesis condition i.e., with a slightly fuel excess ratio (0.45) showed highest electrical conductivity of 96 S/cm at 800°C in air. For the application as cathode in SOFC, this material was studied in the symmetric cell mode with Gd-doped CeO2 as electrolyte and it showed lowest interfacial polarization resistance of 0.158 Ω·cm 2 when sintered at 1000°C. Significantly high current density of ∼ 3.4 A/cm2 and power density of ∼ 2.4 W/cm2 at 800°C was obtained with this cathode in anode-supported single cell with doped CeO2 as a buffer layer. ©The Electrochemical Society.