Types of Capacitors

Types of Capacitors

1. Air

   • Air capacitors are capacitors which use air as their dielectric. The simplest air capacitors are made of two conductive plates separated by an air gap. Air capacitors can be made in a variable or fixed capacitance form.

2. Ceramic

   • A ceramic capacitor uses a ceramic material as the dielectric. Ceramics were one of the first materials to be used in the producion of capacitors, as it was a known insulator.

3. Electrolytic

   • An electrolytic capacitor is a type of capacitor that uses an electrolyte to achieve a larger capacitance than other capacitor types. An electrolyte is a liquid or gel containing a high concentration of ions. Almost all electrolytic capacitors are polarized, which means that the voltage on the positive terminal must always be greater than the voltage on the negative terminal.

4. Super

   • Supercapacitors are electronic devices which are used to store extremely large amounts of electrical charge. They are also known as double-layer capacitors or ultracapacitors. Instead of using a conventional dielectric, supercapacitors use two mechanisms to store electrical energy: double-layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance.

5. Tantalum

   • Tantalum capacitors are a subtype of electrolytic capacitors. They are made of tantalum metal which acts as an anode, covered by a layer of oxide which acts as the dielectric, surrounded by a conductive cathode. The use of tantalum allows for a very thin dielectric layer.