Probing interlayer interactions and commensurate-incommensurate transition in twisted bilayer graphene through Raman spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses Raman spectroscopy and DFT calculations to investigate how twist angle affects interlayer interactions, electronic structure, and phase transitions in twisted bilayer graphene, providing a rapid characterization method.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of twist angle on Raman signatures and electronic properties, revealing a commensurate-incommensurate transition in TBLG.

Findings

Raman signatures vary with twist angle indicating interlayer interaction changes.

DFT results agree with resonant Raman excitations across van Hove singularities.

Identification of a commensurate-incommensurate transition via Raman modes.

Abstract

Twisted 2D layered materials have garnered a lot of attention recently as a class of 2D materials whose interlayer interactions and electronic properties are dictated by the relative rotation / twist angle between the adjacent layers. In this work, we explore a prototype of such a twisted 2D system, artificially stacked twisted bilayer graphene (TBLG), where we probe the changes in the interlayer interactions and electron-phonon scattering pathways as the twist angle is varied from 0{\deg} to 30{\deg}, using Raman spectroscopy. The long range Moir\'e potential of the superlattice gives rise to additional intravalley and intervalley scattering of the electrons in TBLG which have been investigated through their Raman signatures. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the electronic band structure of the TBLG superlattices was found to be in agreement with the resonant Raman excitations across the van Hove singularities in the valence and conduction bands predicted for TBLG due to hybridization of bands from the two layers. We also observe that the relative rotation between the graphene layers has a marked influence on the second order overtone and combination Raman modes signalling a commensurate-incommensurate transition in TBLG as the twist angle increases. This serves as a convenient and rapid characterization tool to determine the degree of commensurability in TBLG systems.