Colloquium: Phase transitions in polymers and liquids in electric fields

TL;DR

This paper reviews how external electric fields influence phase transitions, structure, and stability in soft-matter systems like polymers and liquids, highlighting the roles of dielectric properties and conductivity.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of phenomena and mechanisms by which electric fields induce phase transitions and structural changes in soft-matter systems, emphasizing the effects of dielectric and conductive properties.

Findings

Electric fields cause droplet elongation and interface destabilization.

Conductivity leads to large stresses and lowers instability voltages.

Nonuniform fields induce phase transitions influenced by epsilon and sigma.

Abstract

The structure and thermodynamic state of a system changes under the influence of external electric fields. Neutral systems are characterized by their dielectric constant epsilon, while charged ones also by their charge distribution. In this Colloquium several phenomena occurring in soft-matter systems in spatially uniform and nonuniform fields are surveyed and the role of the conductivity sigma and the linear or nonlinear dependency of epsilon on composition are identified. Uniform electric fields are responsible for elongation of droplets, for destabilization of interfaces between two liquids, and for mixing effects in liquid mixtures. Electric fields, when acting on phases with mesoscopic order, also give rise to block copolymer orientation, to destabilization of polymer-polymer interfaces, and to order-order phase transitions. The role of linear and nonlinear dependences of epsilon on composition will be elucidated in these systems. In addition to the dielectric anisotropy, existence of a finite conductivity leads to appearance of large stresses when these systems are subject to external fields and usually to a reduction in the voltages required for the instabilities or phase transitions to occur. Finally, phase transitions which occur in nonuniform fields are described and emphasis on the importance of epsilon and sigma is given.