The technology behind sodium-ion batteries just got a whole lot more advanced thanks to one small tweak in their design. Scientists at the University of Surrey discovered that by charging traditional approaches to using nanostructured sodium vanadate hydrate (NVOH), a pre-existing sodium-based material, batteries not only perform better, they can also desalinate water, presenting a surprising and useful dual functionality. Typically, scientists remove the water content that naturally occurs in NVOH, in keeping with standard practice. But…