Modern semiempirical methods are of sufficient accuracy when used in the modeling of molecules of the same type as used as reference data in the parameterization. Outside that subset, however, there is an abundance of evidence that these methods are of very limited utility. In an attempt to expand the range of applicability, a new method called PM7 has been developed. PM7 was parameterized using experimental and high-level ab initio reference data, augmented by a new type of reference data intended to better define the structure of parameter space. The resulting method was tested by modeling crystal structures and heats of formation of solids. Two changes were made to the set of approximations: a modification was made to improve the description of noncovalent interactions, and two minor errors in the NDDO formalism were rectified. Average unsigned errors (AUEs) in geometry and ΔHf for PM7 were reduced relative to PM6; for simple gas-phase organic systems, the AUE in bond lengths decreased by about 5 % and the AUE in ΔHf decreased by about 10 %; for organic solids, the AUE in ΔHf dropped by 60 % and the reduction was 33.3 % for geometries. A two-step process (PM7-TS) for calculating the heights of activation barriers has been developed. Using PM7-TS, the AUE in the barrier heights for simple organic reactions was decreased from values of 12.6 kcal/mol-1 in PM6 and 10.8 kcal/mol-1 in PM7 to 3.8 kcal/mol-1. The origins of the errors in NDDO methods have been examined, and were found to be attributable to inadequate and inaccurate reference data. This conclusion provides insight into how these methods can be improved.

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Optimization of parameters for semiempirical methods VI: more modifications to the NDDO approximations and re-optimization of parameters.

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Standard approximations to the density functional theory exchange-correlation functional have been extraordinary successful, but calculating formation enthalpies of reactions involving compounds with both localized and delocalized electronic states remains challenging. In this work we examine the shortcomings of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA+U in accurately characterizing such difficult reactions. We then outline a methodology that mixes GGA and GGA+U total energies (using known binary formation data for calibration) to more accurately predict formation enthalpies. We demonstrate that for a test set of 49 ternary oxides, our methodology can reduce the mean absolute relative error in calculated formation enthalpies from approximately 7.7–21% in GGA+U to under 2%. As another example we show that neither GGA nor GGA+U alone accurately reproduces the Fe-P-O phase diagram; however, our mixed methodology successfully predicts all known phases as stable by naturally stitching together GGA and GGA+U results. As a final example we demonstrate how our technique can be applied to the calculation of the Li-conversion voltage of LiFeF3. Our results indicate that mixing energies of several functionals represents one avenue to improve the accuracy of total energy computations without affecting the cost of calculation.

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Formation enthalpies by mixing GGA and GGA + U calculations

http://web.mit.edu/ceder/publications/Jain_High_Throughput_update.pdf

G. Bergerhoff

Papers

Inorganic crystal structure database