Empirical correction to density functional theory for van der Waals interactions

An empirical method has been designed to account for the van der Waals interactions in practical molecular calculations with density functional theory. For each atom pair separated at a distance R, the method adds to the density functional electronic structure calculations an additional attraction energy EvdW=−fd(R)C6R−6, where fd(R) is the damping function which equals to one at large value of R and zero at small value of R. The coefficients C6 for pair interactions between hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms have been developed in this work by a least-square fitting to the molecular C6 coefficients obtained from the dipole oscillator strength distribution method by Meath and co-workers. Two forms of…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• FF
  Foundation for the National Institutes of Health