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Department of Chemistry

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Connor G. Bischak

Dr. Connor BischakPHYSICAL/MATERIALS CHEMISTRY

Assistant Professor

B.S., Haverford College, 2010
Ph.D., University of Califorina, Berkeley, 2017
Washington Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington, 2018-2021

Phone: (801) 581-3118
Office: 1128 HEB
Email: Connor.Bischak@utah.edu
Research Group


Activities & Awards

  • Cottrell Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2021
  • ACS PHYS Young Investigator Award, 2020

Research Interests

The key to creating of the next generation of healthcare, energy, and computing technologies is taming the underlying dynamic processes that determine functionality. To build better solar cells, we need to elucidate how the local chemical environment impacts charge carrier generation and transport. For the next generation of interfaces between digital electronics and biology, we need to uncover how ions and electrons navigate through heterogeneous polymers. Elucidating these dynamic processes and linking them to device performance is challenging because of the wide range of length and time scales involved. The primary goal of the Bischak Lab is to elucidate dynamic processes in materials to provide new design principles for devices.

To achieve this goal, the Bischak Lab develops new methods to interrogate structural transformations in soft materials, track electronic and ionic transport through complex energy landscapes, and capture nanoscale dynamics at liquid-solid interfaces. Group members will become proficient in a variety of in situ and in operando materials characterization methods, the development of state-of-the-art nanoscale imaging platforms, and the design and implementation of advanced quantitative image analysis pipelines.

Selected Publications

  • Bischak, C. G., Flagg, L. Q., Yan, K., Rehman, T., Davies, D. W., Quezada, R. J., Onorato, J. W., Luscombe, C. K., Diao, Y., Li, C.-Z., Ginger, D. S. A reversible structural phase transition by electrochemical ion injection into a conjugated polymer. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 7434-7442.
  • Bischak, C. G., Raybin, J. G., Kruppe, J. W., Ginsberg, N. S. Charging driven coarsening and melting of an initially static colloidal monolayer at an ionic liquid-vacuum interface. Soft Matter. 2020, 16, 9578-9589.
  • Bischak, C. G., Flagg, L. Q., Ginger, D. S. Ion exchange gels enhance organic electrochemical transistor performance in aqueous solution. Adv. Mater. 2020, 2002610.
  • Bischak, C. G.,* Lai, M.,* Fan, Z.,* Lu, D., David, P., Dong, D., Chen, H., Etman, A. S., Lei, T., Sun, J., Grünwald, M., Limmer, D. T., Yang, P., Ginsberg, N. S. Liquid-Like Interfaces Mediate Structural Phase Transitions in Lead Halide Perovskites. Matter. 2020, 3, 534-545.
  • Bischak, C. G.,* Wong, A. B.,* Lin, E., Limmer, D. T., Yang, P., Ginsberg, N. S. Tunable polaron distortions control the extent of halide demixing in lead halide perovskites. J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2018, 9, 3998-4005.
Last Updated: 2/6/23