The enhancement of heat and mass transfer using a static electric field is an interesting process for industrial applications, due to its low energy consumption and potentially high level of evaporation rate enhancement. However, to date, this phenomenon is still not understood in the context of the evaporation of sessile drops. We synthesise the current research concerning the effect of an electric field on sessile drops with a focus on the change of contact angle and shape and the influence of the evaporation rate. We also discuss the future prospects of this research field. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.