When an electronic conductor is brought in contact with a solid or liquid ionic conductor (electrolyte), a common boundary (interface) among the two phases appears. Hermann von Helmholtz was the first to realize that charged electrodes immersed in electrolyte solutions repel the co-ions of the charge while attracting counterions to their surfaces. Two layers of opposite polarity form at the interface between electrode and electrolyte. In 1853 he showed that an electrical double layer (DL) is essentially a molecular dielectric and stores charge electrostatically. Below the electrolyte's decomposition voltage, the stored charge is linearly dependent on the voltage applied.
This early model predicted a constant differential capacitance independent from the charge density depending on the dielectric constant of the electrolyte solvent and the thickness of the double-layer.
This model, with a good foundation for the description of the interface, does not consider important factors including diffusion/mixing of ions in solution, the possibility of adsorption onto the surface, and the interaction between solvent dipole moments and the electrode.