Aluminum electrolytic capacitor

An aluminum electrolytic capacitor, usually simply called an electrolytic capacitor (e-cap), is a capacitor whose anode (+) consists of pure aluminum foil with an etched surface, covered with a uniformly very thin barrier layer of insulating aluminum oxide, which operates as a dielectric. The electrolyte, which covers the rough surface of the oxide layer, operates as the second electrode, the cathode (-). E-caps have the largest capacitance values per unit volume compared to the two other main conventional capacitor families, ceramic and plastic film capacitors, but much smaller capacitance than similar sized supercapacitors.