A Wannier-function-based ab initio Hartree-Fock study of polyethylene

In the present letter, we report the extension of our Wannier-function-based ab initio Hartree-Fock approach—meant originally for three-dimensional crystalline insulators—to deal with quasi-one-dimensional periodic systems such as polymers. The system studied is all-transoid polyethylene, and results on optimized lattice parameters, cohesive energy and the band structure utilizing 6-31G** basis sets are presented. Our results are also shown to be in excellent agreement with those obtained with traditional Bloch-orbital-based approaches.