A new implementation for dispersion corrections is available starting from ADF2008. The new implementation is easier to use and is also supported by the GUI. Description of the old implementation can be found in the next section.
The new implementation is based on the paper by Grimme [226] and is extremely easy to use. The correction is switched on by specifying DISPERSION, possibly with parameters, in the XC input block. See description of the XC input block for details about the DISPERSION keyword.
Energies calculated Post-SCF using different GGA-D functionals are also present in table printed when METAGGA keyword is specified. These include: BLYP-D, PBE-D, BP86-D, TPSS-D, B3LYP-D, and B97-D. NOTE: this option does not require specifying a DISPERSION keyword in the XC block and thus there is no correction added to the energy gradient in this case. Please also note that although the original B97 functional includes HF exchange (and is thus a hybrid functional), the B97-D is a pure GGA. B3LYP-D is, however, a hybrid functional. The following functional-dependent global scaling factors s6 are used: 1.2 (BLYP-D), 0.75 (PBE-D), 1.05 (BP86-D), 1.0 (TPSS-D), 1.05 (B3LYP-D), and 1.25 (B97-D). These are fixed and cannot be changed.
Regarding performance of different functionals, testing has shown that BLYP-D gives good results for both energies and gradients involving VdW interactions. Post-SCF energy-only calculations at fixed geometries showed that also B97-D gives good binding energies compared to high-level reference data. Thorough comparison of different GGA-D functionals can be found in ref. [227]
Note: The original paper by Grimme included parameters for elements H throughout Xe. In ADF2009.01 values for dispersion parameters for DFT-D functionals for heavier elements (Cs-Rn) have been added. These new values have not been tested extensively. Thus, in this implementation, no dispersion correction is added for interactions involving atoms heavier than Radon.
