During the last decade the focus in superconductivity research has shifted towards the manufacturing of easy-to-handle superconductors, because of their high usability in electronic applications in comparison to bulky ceramics. This article reviews our recent progress made in the buffer-layer architecture of such a coated conductor, focusing on CeO 2 thin films prepared by an aqueous sol-gel method and deposited by dip-coating. Starting from water-soluble cerium(III) nitrate precursors, we were able to deposit films showing a very high degree of [002] orientation depending on the film characteristics and synthesis conditions. The formation and stability of the chemical complexes in the solu-