Strong Electronic Correlation Originates from the Synergistic Effect of Large Moir\'e Cell and Strong Interlayer Coupling in Twisted Graphene Bilayer

Abstract

By using the first-principles method based on density of functional theory, we study the electronic properties of twisted bilayer graphene with some specific twist angles and interlayer spacings. With the decrease of the twist angle(the unit cell becomes larger), the energy band becomes narrower and Coulomb repulsion increases, leading to the enhancement of electronic correlation; On the other hand, as the interlayer spacing decreases and the interlayer coupling becomes stronger, the correlation becomes stronger. By tuning the interlayer coupling, we can realize the strongly correlated state with the band width less than 0.01 eV in medium-sized Moir\'e cell of twisted bilayer graphene. These results demonstrate that the strength of electronic correlation in twisted bilayer graphene is closely related to two factors: the size of unit cell and the distance between layers. Consequently, a conclusion can be drawn that the strong electronic correlation in twisted bilayer graphene originates from the synergistic effect of the large size of Moir\'e cell and strong interlayer coupling on its electronic structure.