Quantum ESPRESSO is an integrated suite of open-source computer codes for quantum simulations of materials using state-of-the art electronic-structure techniques, based on density-functional theory, density-functional perturbation theory, and many-body perturbation theory, within the plane-wave pseudo-potential and projector-augmented-wave approaches. Quantum ESPRESSO owes its popularity to the wide variety of properties and processes it allows to simulate, to its performance on an increasingly broad array of hardware architectures, and to a community of researchers that rely on its capabilities as a core open-source development platform to implement theirs ideas. In this paper we describe recent extensions and improvements, covering new methodologies and property calculators, improved parallelization, code modularization, and extended interoperability both within the distribution and with external software.

A benchmark for non-covalent interactions in solids (C21) based on the experimental sublimation enthalpies and geometries of 21 molecular crystals is presented. Thermal and zero-point effects are carefully accounted for and reference lattice energies and thermal pressures are provided, which allow dispersion-corrected density functionals to be assessed in a straightforward way. Other thermal corrections to the sublimation enthalpy (the 2RT term) are reexamined. We compare the recently implemented exchange-hole dipole moment (XDM) model with other approaches in the literature to find that XDM roughly doubles the accuracy of DFT-D2 and non-local functionals in computed lattice energies (4.8 kJ/mol mean absolute error) while, at the same time, predicting cell geometries within less than 2% of the experimental result on average. The XDM model of dispersion interactions is confirmed as a very promising approach in solid-state applications.

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Specialized computational chemistry packages have permanently reshaped the landscape of chemical and materials science by providing tools to support and guide experimental efforts and for the prediction of atomistic and electronic properties. In this regard, electronic structure packages have played a special role by using first-principle-driven methodologies to model complex chemical and materials processes. Over the past few decades, the rapid development of computing technologies and the tremendous increase in computational power have offered a unique chance to study complex transformations using sophisticated and predictive many-body techniques that describe correlated behavior of electrons in molecular and condensed phase systems at different levels of theory. In enabling these simulations, novel parallel algorithms have been able to take advantage of computational resources to address the polynomial scaling of electronic structure methods. In this paper, we briefly review the NWChem computational chemistry suite, including its history, design principles, parallel tools, current capabilities, outreach, and outlook.