A large panel of old and recently proposed exchange-correlation functionals belonging to rungs 1 to 4 of Jacob's ladder of density functional theory are tested (with and without a dispersion correction term) for the calculation of the lattice constant, bulk modulus, and cohesive energy of solids. Particular attention will be paid to the functionals MGGA_MS2 [J. Sun et al., J. Chem. Phys. 138, 044113 (2013)], mBEEF [J. Wellendorff et al., J. Chem. Phys. 140, 144107 (2014)], and SCAN [J. Sun et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 036402 (2015)] which are meta-generalized gradient approximations (meta-GGA) and are developed with the goal to be universally good. Another goal is also to determine for which semilocal functionals and groups of solids it is beneficial (or not necessary) to use the Hartree-Fock exchange or a dispersion correction term. It is concluded that for strongly bound solids, functionals of the GGA, i.e., rung 2 of Jacob's ladder, are as accurate as the more sophisticated functionals of the higher rungs, while it is necessary to use dispersion corrected functionals in order to expect at least meaningful results for weakly bound solids. If results for finite systems are also considered, then the meta-GGA functionals are overall clearly superior to the GGA functionals.

Graphical abstractFe(intz)6(BF4)2 complexes with n = 3 and 4 (i3tz = 1-isopropyl-1H-tetrazole, i4tz = 1-isobutyl-1H-tetrazole) were synthesized and characterised. The [Fe(i4tz)6](BF4)2 features a complete but gradual spin transition with T½ = 223 K. In the lack of suitable crystals of [Fe(intz)6](BF4)2, the homeotypic crystals of [Ni(intz)6](BF4)2 revealed the molecular structure.Highlights► We synthesized two iron(II) spin-crossover complexes with isoalkyl-tetrazole ligands. ► We crystallised the homeotypic nickel(II) complexes. ► The isobutyl–tetrazole complex shows a complete but gradual spin transition at 220 K. ► The isopropyl–tetrazole complex has an incomplete spin transition. ► We support the magnetic data with Mößbauer, DSC, UV–Vis–NIR and IR data.

The method based on fast Fourier transforms proposed by G. Román-Pérez and J. M. Soler [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 096102 (2009)], which allows for a computationally fast implementation of the nonlocal van der Waals (vdW) functionals, has significantly contributed to making the vdW functionals popular in solid-state physics. However, the Román-Pérez-Soler method relies on a planewave expansion of the electron density; therefore it can not be applied readily to all-electron densities for which an unaffordable number of plane waves would be required for an accurate expansion. In this work, we present the results for the lattice constant and binding energy of solids that were obtained by applying a smoothing procedure to the all-electron density calculated with the linearized augmented plane-wave method. The smoothing procedure has the advantages of being very simple to implement, basis-set independent, and allowing the calculation of the potential. It is also shown that the results agree very well with those from the literature that were obtained with the projector augmented wave method.

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