The Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof exchange-correlation functional applied to the G2-1 test set using a plane-wave basis set

Present local and semilocal functionals show significant errors, for instance, in the energetics of small molecules and in the description of band gaps. One possible solution to these problems is the introduction of exact exchange and hybrid functionals. A plane-wave-based algorithm was implemented in VASP (Vienna ab-initio simulation package) to allow for the calculation of the exact exchange. To systematically assess the precision of the present implementation, calculations for the 55 molecules of the G2-1 quantum chemical test set were performed applying the PBE and PBE0 functionals. Excellent agreement for both atomization energies and geometries compared with the results obtained by GAUSSIAN 03 calculations using large basis sets (augmented correlation consistent polarized valence quadruple zeta for the geometry optimization and augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence quintuple zeta for the energy calculations) was found. The mean absolute error for atomization energies between VASP and the experiment is 8.6 and 3.7 kcal/mol, as calculated with the PBE and PBE0 functionals, respectively.