An entire active region of an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell was structurally analyzed by X-ray computed nano-tomography using full-field transmission X-ray microscopy (NANO-TXM). A total three-dimensional volume of similar to 38,500 mu m(3) was imaged, from which Ni-YSZ anode functional layer (similar to 3650 mu m(3)) and LSM-YSZ cathode functional layer (similar to 4100 mu m(3)) volumes were reconstructed. These were among the largest-volume electrode reconstructions ever reported, while at the same time exhibiting high spatial resolution of 50 nm. Comparison with electrode microstructures measured using other imaging methods demonstrates that the larger NANO-TXM-measured volumes provided significantly more accurate phase connectivity information. A microstructure-based electrochemical model prediction agreed well with the measured full-cell electrochemical data. The results suggest that low LSM connectivity and slow oxygen reduction reaction kinetics in the cathode were a major limitation to the overall cell performance. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.