Molecular Simulation of External Electric Fields on the Crystal State: A Perspective

Unpacking the mechanistic insights into how externally applied electric fields affect the physicochemical properties of crystals represents a challenge of great importance for a plethora of natural phenomena, in addition to a broad array of industrial operations and technologies. As such, the key goals in such field effect studies centre around how thermodynamic and kinetic relaxation processes in crystals are affected, including charge carrier conduction and energy transfer processes, and this is a very recent area of fundamental scrutiny. Indeed, in recent years, there has been a steadily mounting number of reports of field-manipulated crystal-state phenomena. Taking as the background a range of natural phenomena, phenomenological theory, state-of-the-art experiments and technological observations, the present review examines the role of nonequilibrium molecular simulation in its scrutiny of intra-crystal phenomena from an atomistic viewpoint, in addition to providing a framework for a predictive molecular design philosophy by which to refine field crystal understanding.