From current peaks to waves and capacitive currents-on the origins of capacitor-like electrode behavior

Terminology of electrodes and electrode materials used in supercapacitors as well as naming of electrode processes and devices prepared with these electrodes is confusing and rather unregulated. Consequently, misunderstanding in communication about research and development is somehow matched with an incomplete understanding of the reasons of the observed capacitive, pseudocapacitive, or Faradaic behavior. Observed and investigated phenomena relevant for supercapacitor electrodes are briefly reviewed and explained in terms of electrode processes and interfacial phenomena. Further research possibly useful in more fundamental understanding and rational improvement of materials is proposed.