Carbon monoxide (CO) is a major component in typical feed gases for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). This paper presents a combined modeling and experimental analysis of electrochemical CO oxidation on Ni/YSZ patterned model anodes. A computational model representing the coupled behavior of heterogeneous chemistry and electrochemistry in terms of elementary reactions is developed, which allows for a quantitative description of electrochemical impedance spectra and current-voltage behavior. Excellent agreement between model and experiment was achieved for the complete experimental data set, which covers a wide range of CO/CO2/N-2 gas compositions (4.0 x 10(2) Pa <= pCO <= 5.1 x 10(4) Pa and 9.5 x 10(2) Pa <= pCO(2) <= 9.2 x 10(4) Pa) and operating temperatures (973 K <= T <= 1073 K). In the framework of the presented model a direct mechanistic interpretation of the experimentally observed electrochemical characteristics is obtained. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.