Psi4 Project Logo

Interface to PCMSolver

Code author: Roberto Di Remigio, T. Daniel Crawford, Andrew C. Simmonett

Section author: Roberto Di Remigio

Module: Keywords, PSI Variables, PCMSolver

Psi4 contains code to interface to the PCMSolver library developed by R. Di Remigio and L. Frediani. The version 1.1.0 of the PCMSolver library is distributed with Psi4 and requires no additional licence, downloads, or configuration. The library is documented at http://pcmsolver.readthedocs.org/, while the source code is hosted at https://github.com/PCMSolver/pcmsolver/ The library allows for calculations in solution with the polarizable continuum model (PCM), a continuum solvation model. Compilation of the library and its interface to Psi4 can be disabled by passing the --pcmsolver=off to the setup script or -DENABLE_PCMSOLVER=OFF directly to CMake.

Using the polarizable continuum model

The inclusion of a PCM description of the solvent into your calculation is achieved by setting pcm true in your input file. Psi4 understands the additional option pcm_scf_type with possible values total (the default) or separate. The latter forces the separate handling of nuclear and electronic electrostatic potentials and polarization charges. It is mainly useful for debugging.

Note

At present PCM can only be used for energy calculations with SCF wavefunctions. Moreover, the PCMSolver library cannot exploit molecular point group symmetry.

The PCM model and molecular cavity are specified in a pcm section that has to be explicitly typed in by the user. This additional section follows a syntax that is slightly different from that of Psi4 and is fully documented here

A typical input for a Hartree-Fock calculation with PCM would look like the following:

molecule NH3 {
symmetry c1
N     -0.0000000001    -0.1040380466      0.0000000000
H     -0.9015844116     0.4818470201     -1.5615900098
H     -0.9015844116     0.4818470201      1.5615900098
H      1.8031688251     0.4818470204      0.0000000000
units bohr
no_reorient
no_com
}

set {
  basis STO-3G
  scf_type pk
  pcm true
  pcm_scf_type total
}

pcm = {
   Units = Angstrom
   Medium {
   SolverType = IEFPCM
   Solvent = Water
   }

   Cavity {
   RadiiSet = UFF
   Type = GePol
   Scaling = False
   Area = 0.3
   Mode = Implicit
   }
}

More examples can be found in the directories with PCM tests pcmsolver/pcm_scf, pcmsolver/pcm_dft, and pcmsolver/pcm_dipole.