Benchmarking van der Waals Density Functionals with Experimental Data: Potential Energy Curves for H2 Molecules on Cu(111), (100), and (110) Surfaces

Detailed physisorption data from experiment for the H_2 molecule on low-index Cu surfaces challenge theory. Recently, density-functional theory (DFT) has been developed to account for nonlocal correlation effects, including van der Waals (dispersion) forces. We show that the functional vdW-DF2 gives a potential-energy curve, potential-well energy levels, and difference in lateral corrugation promisingly close to the results obtained by resonant elastic backscattering-diffraction experiments. The backscattering barrier is found selective for choice of exchange-functional approximation. Further, the DFT-D3 and TS-vdW corrections to traditional DFT formulations are also benchmarked, and deviations are analyzed.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Ab initio molecular dynamics study of collective excitations in liquid H2_2O and D2_2O: Effect of dispersion corrections

The collective dynamics in liquid water is an active research topic experimentally, theoretically and via simulations. Here, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are reported in heavy and ordinary water at temperature 323.15 K, or 50$^\circ$C. The simulations in heavy water were performed both with and without dispersion corrections. We found that the dispersion correction (DFT-D3) changes the relaxation of density-density time correlation functions from a slow, typical of a supercooled state, to exponential decay behaviour of regular liquids. This implies an essential reduction of the melting point of ice in simulations with DFT-D3. Analysis of longitudinal (L) and transverse (T) current spectral functions allowed us to estimate the dispersions of acoustic and optic collective excitations and to observe the L-T mixing effect. The dispersion correction shifts the L and T optic (O) modes to lower frequencies and provides by almost thirty per cent smaller gap between the longest-wavelength LO and TO excitations, which can be a consequence of a larger effective high-frequency dielectric permittivity in simulations with dispersion corrections. Simulation in ordinary water with the dispersion correction results in frequencies of optic excitations higher than in D$_2$O, and in a long-wavelength LO-TO gap of 24 ps$^{-1}$ (127 cm$^{-1}$).Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

First-principle study of paraelectric and ferroelectric CsH2_2PO4_4 including dispersion forces: stability and related vibrational, dielectric and elastic properties

Using density functional theory (DFT) and density functional perturbation theory (DFPT), we investigate the stability and response functions of CsH$_2$PO$_4$, a ferroelectric material at low temperature. This material cannot be described properly by the usual (semi-)local approximations within DFT. The long-range e$^-$-e$^-$ correlation needs to be properly taken into account, using, for instance, Grimme's DFT-D methods, as investigated in this work. We find that DFT-D3(BJ) performs the best for the members of the dihydrogenated alkali phosphate family (KH$_2$PO$_4$, RbH$_2$PO$_4$, CsH$_2$PO$_4$), leading to experimental lattice parameters reproduced with an average deviation of 0.5 %. With these DFT-D methods, the structural, dielectric, vibrational and mechanical properties of CsH$_2$PO$_4$ are globally in excellent agreement with the available experiments ($<$ 2% MAPE for Raman-active phonons). Our study suggests the possible existence of a new low-temperature phase for CsH$_2$PO$_4$, not yet reported experimentally. Finally, we report the implementation of DFT-D contributions to elastic constants within DFPT.Comment: This paper was published in Physical Review B the 25 January 2017 (21 pages, 4 figures

Van der Waals density-functional theory study for bulk solids with BCC, FCC, and diamond structures

Proper inclusion of van der Waals (vdW) interactions in theoretical simulations based on standard density functional theory (DFT) is crucial to describe the physics and chemistry of systems such as organic and layered materials. Many encouraging approaches have been proposed to combine vdW interactions with standard approximate DFT calculations. Despite many vdW studies, there is no consensus on the reliability of vdW methods. To help further development of vdW methods, we have assessed various vdW functionals through the calculation of structural prop- erties at equilibrium, such as lattice constants, bulk moduli, and cohesive energies, for bulk solids, including alkali, alkali-earth, and transition metals, with BCC, FCC, and diamond structures as the ground state structure. These results provide important information for the vdW-related materials research, which is essential for designing and optimizing materials systems for desired physical and chemical properties.Comment: 10 pages, 6 Figures, 3 Table

Vibrational and dielectric properties of the bulk transition metal dichalcogenides

Interest in the bulk transition metal dichalcogenides for their electronic, photovoltaic, and optical properties has grown and led to their use in many technological applications. We present a systematic investigation of their interlinked vibrational and dielectric properties, using density functional theory and density functional perturbation theory, studying the effects of the spin-orbit interaction and of the long-range e$^-$- e$^-$ correlation as part of our investigation. This study confirms that the spin-orbit interaction plays a small role in these physical properties, while the direct contribution of dispersion corrections is of crucial importance in the description of the interatomic force constants. Here, our analysis of the structural and vibrational properties, including the Raman spectra, compare well to experimental measurement. Three materials with different point groups are showcased and data trends on the full set of fifteen existing hexagonal, trigonal, and triclinic materials are demonstrated. This overall picture will enable the modeling of devices composed of these materials for novel applications.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Mass Density Fluctuations in Quantum and Classical descriptions of Liquid Water

First principles molecular dynamics simulation protocol is established using revised functional of Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (revPBE) in conjunction with Grimme's third generation of dispersion (D3) correction to describe properties of water at ambient conditions. This study also demonstrates the consistency of the structure of water across both isobaric (NpT) and isothermal (NVT) ensembles. Going beyond the standard structural benchmarks for liquid water, we compute properties that are connected to both local structure and mass density uctuations that are related to concepts of solvation and hydrophobicity. We directly compare our revPBE results to the Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr (BLYP) plus Grimme dispersion corrections (D2) and both the empirical fixed charged model (SPC/E) and many body interaction potential model (MB-pol) to further our understanding of how the computed properties herein depend on the form of the interaction potential

Adsorption of imidazole on Au(111) surface: Dispersion corrected density functional study

We use density functional theory in the generalized gradient approximation to study the adsorption of imidazole on the Au(111) surface and account for dispersion effect using Grimme's empirical dispersion correction technique. Our results show that the adsorption energy of imidazole depends on the slab size and on the adsorption site. In agreement with other studies, we find the largest adsorption energy for imidazole on a top site of Au(111). However, we also note that the adsorption energy at other sites is substantial