Polymorph Exploration of Bismuth Stannate Using First-principles Phonon Mode Mapping

In this work, we present a new unbiased and efficient quantum chemical method for exploring the potential energy surface of complex crystal structures using theoretically rigorous phonon mode-mapping approach. The method successfully recovers the known experimental phases of the pyrochlore-based Bi₂Sn₂O₇, one of the most difficult cases in structural chemistry, which highlights its utility for searching possible transition pathways and identifying global minima for many other challenging systems.