Conduction and Electrostriction of Polymers Induced by High Electric Fields

After reviewing the new physics and chemistry in high electrostatic fields we use density functional theory to show that in fields around 1.5 V/Å the bandgap of polythiophene reduces to zero leading to field-induced metallization. In poly(ethylene glycol), on the other hand, such fields lead to giant electrostriction of over 20% in length. Lastly, we give two examples of field-induced polymerization: (1) the closure of sulfur molecules Sn at n = 8 is suppressed remaining linear up to n ~ 20. (2) This also happens to water which forms linear whiskers up to n ~ 11