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Based on my understanding, charges are pushed along wires due to an electric field created by the battery, and charges gain electric energy as they loop through the battery. But I can't seem to understand the significance and purpose of a potential difference within the circuit in moving charges around the circuit if an electric field is already present. Can someone please explain this?

This will definitely be a great help in improving my understanding on how batteries facilitate the movement of charges in a wire.

AscenderVI
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For an intuitive answer:

The electric field produces electric force.

Electric potential energy is just another way to describe the effect of electric force. Instead of saying "a force of $x$ Newton pushes on a charge", then you can also say something like "there is a potential difference of $x$ volts". Electric potential difference is with another word called voltage and is used extensively.

The key difference between potential energy and force is just that the potential energy measure describes what would happen when a charge arrives. While you cannot talk about a force being present without a charge being present, you can talk about a potential energy difference without a charge. This, at the core, also gives an idea of the word "potential" - this energy tells what a charge would have the potential for, should that scenario ever unfold. A battery connected to a circuit establishes as potential difference, which means that if a charge ever enters this circuit, we know can predict how it would behave (we can predict the forces it would experience).

Steeven
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