First-principles description of van der Waals-bonded spin-polarized systems using vdW-DF$+U$ method---application to solid oxygen at low pressure

Abstract

The description of the molecular solid phase of O${}_2$, especially its ground-state antiferromagnetic insulating phase, is known to be quite unsatisfactory within the conventional local and semilocal density functional approximations used in the Kohn-Sham formalism of density functional theory. The recently-developed van der Waals functionals that take into account nonlocal correlations have also shown subpar performance in this regard. The difficulty lies in the subtle balance between the van der Waals interactions and the exchange coupling between the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic molecule pairs in the molecular crystal. Here, we report that the DFT$+U$ approach used in combination with the vdW-DF functional performs surprisingly well in this regard, and discuss the reasoning behind this behavior. We also apply this approach to study the recently-reported magnetic field-induced $\theta$ phase of solid O${}_2$.

Final published version

References in corpus (5)

• van der Waals forces in density functional theory: The vdW-DF method
• Density functional theory in transition-metal chemistry: a self-consistent Hubbard U approach
• Spin signature of nonlocal-correlation binding in metal organic frameworks
• Improving the Description of Nonmagnetic and Magnetic Molecular Crystals via the van der Waals Density Functional
• Theoretical calculations for solid oxygen under high pressure

Cited by in corpus (4)

• $H$-$T$ phase diagram of solid oxygen
• X-ray free-electron laser observation of giant and anisotropic magnetostriction in $\beta$-O${}_2$ at 110 Tesla
• Spin-Orbital Ordering in Alkali Superoxides
• Benchmarking of Oxygen Adsorption using TPD Spectroscopy for Accurate DFT Prediction of ORR on Anatase Titanium Dioxide (101)