Media Arts and Technology

Research in the Bazan Group is centered on the molecular design and synthesis of innovative, functional materials for applications in organic electronics (including, for example, conjugated small molecules and polymers for organic photovoltaics, field-effect transistors, diodes, and thermoelectrics), bioelectrochemical devices, as well as industrially relevant polymer chemistry.

In addition to our strong synthetic foundations, we are also focused on contributing to the fundamental understanding of how a material’s molecular structure, optical and electronic properties, crystallization behavior, and sensitivity to processing conditions affect device performance, with the objective of being able to guide the future design of high-performance and high-efficiency organic devices

http://www.chem.ucsb.edu/bazangroup/

Bazan was trained as a chemist and asks fundamental questions with results that are aimed to applicable longterm solutions with the goal of widespread utility. These questions come from intuitive examination of previous research and from experience. Patents, publishing research results in papers, founding companies are some of the ways in which his research enters the world.

He deals with photo physics where organic materials absorb and manage light. These materials may be biosensors or solar cells. An issue involves stabilizing the organic compounds used.

He feels that collaboration is best when each participant has a core expertise.

His workflow is roughly as follows:

Draw goal compounds,
Start building materials
evaporate, heat, and interface this new material with other materials
conceive of and conduct an experiment
go back to step 2 and revise



a) How do you gather data - by direct measurement of materials and chemicals

b) What kind of technology is used - chemicals and chemistry lab equipment of many varieties, molecular wires,

c) Does the research make you design new technology - the goal of the research is designing new technology but many of the tools of production are previously available

d) How is your data analyzed -

e) How do you make assumptions based on the analysis - There are performance milestones for experiments and expectations of the results

f) How does the analysis result in discovery - if the material has new properties or higher efficiency of known properties

g) How do you represent the results - illustrations, graphical representations and graphs

attached are photos from the lab visit