Scientists find hidden materials that could improve batteries and solar fuels

Scientists have uncovered a hidden world of “in-between” materials that briefly form as chemical ingredients are heated, revealing structures that conventional methods can miss. Among the discoveries is a previously unknown form of bismuth vanadate, a material widely studied for using sunlight to help produce clean hydrogen. The new version has a different atomic structure and interacts with light in a strikingly different way, potentially opening new possibilities for solar fuels, catalysts, and electronics.