This article reviews the fundamental interfacial mechanisms underlying electrofreezing (promotion of ice nucleation via the application of an electric field). Electrofreezing has been an active research topic for many decades, with applications in food preservation, cryopreservation, cryogenics and hydrate formation. There is substantial literature detailing experimental and simulations-based studies, which aim to understand the complex mechanisms underlying accelerated ice nucleation in the presence of electric fields and electrical charge. This work provides a critical review of all such studies. It is noted that application-focused studies of electrofreezing are excluded from this review; such studies have been previously reviewed in literature. This review focuses only on fundamental studies, which analyze the physical mechanisms underlying electrofreezing. Topics reviewed include experimental studies on electrofreezing (DC and AC electric fields), pyroelectricity-based control of freezing, molecular dynamics simulations of electrofreezing, and thermodynamics-based explanations of electrofreezing. Overall, it is seen that while electrofreezing can enable disruptive advancements in the control of liquid-to-solid phase change, our current understanding of the underlying mechanisms can be significantly improved through further studies of various interfacial effects coming into play.

本文回顾了电冻结（通过施加电场促进冰核化）的基本界面机理。数十年来，电冻结一直是活跃的研究主题，并在食品保存，冷冻保存，低温和水合物形成中得到应用。有大量文献详细介绍了基于实验和模拟的研究，旨在了解存在电场和电荷时加速冰核形成的复杂机制。这项工作提供了对所有此类研究的批判性审查。需要注意的是，本综述不包括针对应用的电冻结研究。此类研究先前已在文献中进行了综述。这篇评论仅侧重于基础研究，分析了电冻结的物理机制。复习的主题包括电冻结（DC和AC电场）的实验研究，基于热电的冻结控制，电冻结的分子动力学模拟以及基于热力学的电冻结解释。总的来说，可以看到虽然电冻结可以在控制液相到固相变化方面取得突破性进展，但通过进一步研究各种界面作用，我们对潜在机理的当前理解可以得到显着改善。