Dispersion Interactions with Density-Functional Theory: Benchmarking Semiempirical and Interatomic Pairwise Corrected Density Functionals
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Marom, Noa[Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth 76100, Israel > > > ; Center for Computational Materials, Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States]
Tkatchenko, Alexandre[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany]
Rossi, Mariana[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany]
V., Gobre Vivekanand[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany]
Hod, Oded[School of Chemistry, The Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel]
Scheffler, Matthias[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany]
Kronik, Leeor[Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovoth 76100, Israel]
[en] We present a comparative assessment of the accuracy of two different approaches for evaluating dispersion interactions: interatomic pairwise corrections and semiempirical meta-generalized-gradient-approximation (meta-GGA)-based functionals. This is achieved by employing conventional (semi)local and (screened-)hybrid functionals, as well as semiempirical hybrid and nonhybrid meta-GGA functionals of the M06 family, with and without interatomic pairwise Tkatchenko Scheffler corrections. All of those are tested against the benchmark S22 set of weakly bound systems a representative larger molecular complex (dimer of NiPc molecules), and a representative dispersively bound solid (hexagonal boron nitride). For the 522 database, we also compare our results with those obtained from the pairwise correction of Grimme (DFT-D3) and nonlocal Langreth Lundqvist furtctionals (vdW-DF1 and vdW-DF2). We find that the semiempirical kinetic-energy-density dependence introduced in the M06 functionals mimics some of the nonlocal correlation needed to describe dispersion. However, long-range contributions are still missing. Pair-wise interatomic corrections, applied to conventional semilocal or hybrid functionals, or to M06 functionals, provide for a satisfactory level of accuracy irrespectively of the underlying functional. Specifically, screened-hybrid functionals such as the.Heyd Scuseria Ernzerhof (HSE) approach reduce self-interaction errors in systems possessing both localized and delocalized orbitals and can be applied to both finite and extended systems. Therefore, they serve as a useful underlying functional for dispersion corrections.
[Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany]
