EVO—Evolutionary algorithm for crystal structure prediction Original Research Article

We present EVO—an evolution strategy designed for crystal structure search and prediction. The concept and main features of biological evolution such as creation of diversity and survival of the fittest have been transferred to crystal structure prediction. EVO successfully demonstrates its applicability to find crystal structures of the elements of the 3rd main group with their different spacegroups. For this we used the number of atoms in the conventional cell and multiples of it. Running EVO with different numbers of carbon atoms per unit cell yields graphite as the lowest energy structure as well as a diamond-like structure, both in one run. Our implementation also supports the search for 2D structures and was able to find a boron sheet with structural features so far not considered in literature.