Recently we were able to interview Dr. Devin MacKenzie from University of Washington.
Question: Devin, could you tell us a bit about your role at University of Washington and the focus of Washington Clean Energy Testbeds?
Answer: Hi, I am the technical director and co-founder at the Washington Clean Energy Testbeds at the University of Washington and I am also a faculty member in Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Our testbeds lab focuses on energy device scaling and advanced additive manufacturing for energy devices and electronics more broadly.
Q: You are a very strong supporter and a recognized leader in flexible and hybrid electronics manufacturing. How did you find your passion for this emerging technology?
A: I did early industry and graduate work in III-V Compound Semiconductor electronics using the most equipment and cost-intensive processes to make high-performance optoelectronics. After seeing where this field was headed I became interested in solution-processed optoelectronics while at the University of Cambridge. I saw this as a disruptive way to more sustainably make optoelectronics and electronics in general at much lower capital costs. After spinning out the world’s first printed electronics company in the UK, I saw the synergy between low-temperature processing, additive manufacturing, and roll-to-roll processing with flexible electronics. Although we had significant success in areas like OLEDs, I was always troubled by the fact that we often had to make concessions in terms of performance for printed and flexible electronics versus conventional electronics processing. This is a problem for early technologies as competing on cost when production volumes are initially low is difficult and it is hard to convince people to replace higher-performing products with lower-performing ones even if they may be improved in the future.
So it has been my mission to find out how we can exploit the unique capabilities of additive manufacturing to sustainably make electronics that can perform beyond what conventional electronics can do. I truly believe, especially in optoelectronics, this is not just a possibility, but a likely future.