  We construct correlation-consistent effective core potentials (ccECPs) for a
selected set of heavy atoms and f-elements that are of significant current
interest in materials and chemical applications, including Y, Zr, Nb, Rh, Ta,
Re, Pt, Gd, and Tb. As customary, ccECPs consist of spin-orbit averaged
relativistic effective potential (AREP) and effective spin-orbit (SO) terms.
For the AREP part, our constructions are carried out within a relativistic
coupled-cluster framework while also taking into objective function
one-particle characteristics for improved convergence in optimizations. The
transferability is adjusted using binding curves of hydride and oxide
molecules. We address the difficulties encountered with f-elements, such as the
presence of large cores and multiple near-degeneracies of excited levels. For
these elements, we construct ccECPs with core-valence partitioning that
includes 4f-subshell in the valence space. The developed ccECPs achieve an
excellent balance between accuracy, size of the valence space, and
transferability and are also suitable to be used in plane wave codes with
reasonable energy cutoffs.
