Abstract Electroporation occurs when voltage is applied to lipid membranes. It has various applications, including transfection of DNA into cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying pore formation are not well understood. Therefore, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations were performed on a POPC membrane model. A field-electrostatic method was used to apply voltage, and a set of effective interaction parameters among particles was obtained through fragment molecular orbital (F