In this manuscript, carbon materials having different microstructural and electrochemical properties were coated with metal oxide thin-films of SiO2 or gamma-Al2O3/gamma-AlOOH. The metal oxide deposition was influenced by four factors: number of times dipped into the sol, sol concentration, proximity of the sol to its isoelectric pH and drying temperature. Upon coating, microstructural and electrochemical properties of the resulting composite electrode (metal oxide + carbon) were largely dependent upon the carbon material. For instance, an increase in specific surface area (by over a factor of 5) was observed when a low surface area carbon was coated; however, coating a high surface area carbon resulted in a decrease in the specific surface area of the composite. Likewise, surface groups associated with the coatings also appeared to increase the wettability of select carbons. When comparing the capacitance of the different carbon materials, it was shown that properties other than surface area (i.e. - wettability) played a role in performance. In several cases, the coated electrodes had increased capacities over that of the uncoated carbon supports; however, this was carbon specific as some materials experienced little change in capacity with the metal oxide coatings. (C) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.