Reliable Lattice Dynamics from an Efficient Density Functional Approximation

First principles predictions of lattice dynamics are of vital importance for a broad range of topics in materials science and condensed matter physics. The large-scale nature of lattice dynamics calculations and the desire to design novel materials with distinct properties demands that first principles predictions are accurate, transferable, efficient, and reliable for a wide variety of materials. In this work, we demonstrate that the recently constructed r2SCAN density functional approximation meets this need for general systems by demonstrating phonon dispersions for typical 12 systems with distinct chemical characteristics. The approximation’s performance opens a door for phonon-mediated materials discovery from first principles calculations.