A new model of a molecular rotor in the oscillating electric field

Abstract

In the framework of classical electrostatics, the rotation of an adsorbed polar molecule near a plane interface between two homogeneous insulators under the influence of an external electric field E is considered. The molecule is treated as a permanent point dipole, which polarizes the interface and interacts with the induced image charges. It has been shown that a molecular rotor can emerge for an arbitrary (not normal or parallel to the interface) orientation of the field E.