Nichicon has developed a number of series of Conductive Polymer Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors. They are available in both SMD (surface mount) and TH (through hole) configurations.
Liquid electrolyte is used in standard Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors while the electrolyte is solid in Polymer Capacitors.
Polymer type capacitors have several advantages over the standard Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor. The polymer electrolyte has higher conductivity than the liquid electrolyte used in standard capacitors, resulting in lower ESR. This permits a single polymer type capacitor to replace several aluminum electrolytic type capacitors, resulting in reduced board space and total number of components on the board.
Since the polymer is a solid, it also gives longer life, not following the classic Arrhenius formula. Instead of doubling life with every 10°C drop in temperature, the lifetime will be 10 times longer for every 20°C decrease in temperature.
