It turns out the secret to creating next-generation materials may lie in the hidden steps of the cooking process itself.

A collaboration between the University of Warwick and the University of Birmingham has led to the identification of a method to uncover hidden material phases by tracking the transformation of molecular precursors during heating. 

Published in Nature Communications, the study shifts the focus from final products to the intermediate stages of synthesis.

It has unlocked a secret doorway into materials science by studying the hidden intermediate stages that occur during chemical heating. These fleeting phases, which usually vanish before the final product is formed, offer unique properties and structures that are impossible to create using standard methods.

“When materials are made by heating, scientists usually focus on the final product, the ‘B’ that results from ‘A.’ But this study shows that there are many fascinating stages in between ‘A’ and ‘B,’ and these hidden steps could be just as important,” said Dr Sebastian Pike, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick. 

Typically, material science follows a predictable path from Point A to Point B. However, this collaborative effort decided to stop ignoring the journey. 

Normally, these middle materials vanish before we can use them.

To capture these hidden materials, the team had to deploy a suite of state-of-the-art technologies, including solid-state NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and pair distribution function analysis, to map the atomic chaos.

It was a high-speed game of freeze frame played at a molecular level.

Particularly, single-source precursors — essentially all-in-one starter molecules — were used to observe the material’s transformation step by step. What they found wasn’t just a transition, but a treasure trove.

“We didn’t know exactly what we would find,” said Pike. “But we were confident there would be something interesting in the intermediate phases. We were thrilled to discover that some of these could have practical uses, even from the very first experiments,” Pike added.

The star of the show is a newly discovered version of bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) — a unique version of a prized clean-energy material. 

While the standard form is already famous for its “sweet spot” ability to turn sunlight into hydrogen fuel, this new variant offers a fresh atomic structure that could further optimize how we harvest solar energy.

In simpler terms? It interacts with light in a way no one has seen before.

Battery potential

The distinct atomic structure of the newly discovered β-BiVO₄ results in a larger band gap, altering how the material absorbs and responds to light. This structural shift provides a new tuning knob to refine the efficiency of technologies ranging from solar fuel production and chemical catalysis to high-performance electronics.

The implications stretch far beyond solar power. During their experiments, the team identified another “hidden” material with a remarkable appetite for lithium. This intermediate stage could hold the secret to batteries that charge faster and last longer than anything currently on the market.

“What’s exciting is that these ‘in-between’ materials aren’t just stepping stones — they can have useful properties in their own right,” said Dr Dominik Kubicki, School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham. 

The study provides a new map for materials science, suggesting that by adjusting the path a chemical takes as it heats up, we can find a treasure trove of useful, undiscovered substances.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications on April 30.