Seeking for reliable double-hybrid density functionals without fitting parameters: The PBE0-2 functional

Without the use of any empirical fitting to experimental or high-level ab initio data, we present a double-hybrid density functional approximation for the exchange–correlation energy, combining the exact Hartree–Fock exchange and second-order Møller–Plesset (MP2) correlation with the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) functional. This functional, denoted as PBE0-2, is shown to be accurate for a wide range of applications, when compared with other functionals and the ab initio MP2 method. The qualitative failures of conventional density functional approximations, such as self-interaction error and noncovalent interaction error, are significantly reduced by PBE0-2.