Electrode Electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). The word was coined by William Whewell at the request of the scientist Michael Faraday from two Greek words: "elektron", meaning amber (from which the word electricity is derived), and "hodos", a way. The electrophore, invented by Johan Wilcke, was an early version of an electrode used to study static electricity. An electrode in an electrochemical cell is referred to as either an "anode" or a "cathode" (words that were coined by William
Aluminum electrolytic capacitor for better self-healing property of the oxide layer, so that the capacitors have the advantages of both low ESR and low leakage current. The basic material of the anode for aluminum electrolytic capacitors is a foil with a thickness of ~ 20–100 µm made of aluminum with a high purity of at least 99.99%. This is etched (roughened) in an electrochemical process to increase the effective electrode surface. By etching the surface of the anode, depending on the required rated voltage, the surface area can be increased by a factor of approximately 200 with respect to a smooth surface. After