Beyond Silicon: The Future of Solar Energy (Ep 33): Prof. Christos Markides & Dr Flurin Eisner

In 2025, the UK generated over 14 billion kilowatt-hours of solar electricity, enough to power more than 5 million homes. With solar technology evolving faster than ever, could the next leap in solar power come from labs pushing the boundaries of energy science?

Today's episode is hosted by Christos Markides, a professor of clean energy technologies in the department of chemical engineering at Imperial. He specializes in advanced technologies for recovering and storing thermal energy—particularly from solar and low-grade waste heat.

His guest today is Dr Flurin Eisner, a lecturer and researcher in Green Energy and Sustainable Engineering at Queen Mary University.

Topics they discuss;
Technology improvements in solar cells
Generation capacity for manufacturing solar technologies
Growth rate of PV industry
Technical dive into converting solar power to energy
Solar heat converted to cooling technologies
UK’s Solar PV generation vs that of Europe.

Timecode Chapters;
00:00 - Introduction to the Energy Futures Podcast
00:45 - Meet the Hosts: Christos Markides and Flurin Eisner
02:00 - Overview of Solar Energy Potential and Global Usage
04:30 - Growth of Photovoltaics (PV) and Silicon Dominance
07:00 - Monocrystalline vs Polycrystalline Silicon
08:30 - Emerging Solar Technologies: Perovskites and Organics
11:00 - Advantages and Challenges of Perovskite Solar Cells
13:30 - Tandem Solar Cells and Efficiency Gains
15:00 - Organic PV: Flexibility, Colour Tuning, and Indoor Use
17:30 - Energy Payback Time and Sustainability of New Technologies
19:30 - Hybrid PV-Thermal Systems and Heat Recovery
22:00 - Thermal Storage and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
24:30 - Grid Integration and the Role of Storage
26:30 - Desert Tech and International Solar Projects
28:00 - Challenges in Grid Infrastructure and Distribution
30:00 - Capacity Factors and Renewable Energy Intermittency
32:00 - Solar for Cooling and Building Integration
34:00 - Light Management and Spectral Tuning in PV
36:00 - Material Design and AI in Solar Research
38:00 - Policy, Funding, and the UK’s Role in PV Innovation
40:00 - Solar Panel Adoption in UK Homes and Feed-in Tariffs
42:00 - Final Thoughts: The Solar Revolution is Here
43:00 - Outro and Energy Futures Lab Mission

Christo's links: LinkedIn -   / christos-markides-0845974  
Imperial profile - https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/c.mar...

Flurin’s links: LinkedIn -   / flurin-eisner-993b3358  

Produced by Annemarie van Basten
  / annemarie-van-basten-b4289a17  

Additional Links 
Joint Article Publication by Prof. Christos Markides and Dr Maria Herrando
Hybrid PV and solar-thermal systems for domestic heat and power provision in the UK: Techno-economic considerations
https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/entitie...

Dr. Maria Herrando Imperial Profile link -https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/maria...