Exploring interlayer coupling in the twisted bilayer <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mi>PtTe</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>

We have investigated interlayer interactions in the bilayer <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><a:msub><a:mi>PtTe</a:mi><a:mn>2</a:mn></a:msub></a:math> system, which influence the electronic energy bands near the Fermi level. Our diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations for the high-symmetry bilayer stackings (AA, AB, AC) manifest distinct interlayer binding characteristics among the stacking modes by revealing significantly different interlayer separations depending on the stacking, which is critical to understanding the interlayer coupling of the twisted bilayers consisting of various local stacking arrangements. Furthermore, a comparison between the interlayer separations obtained from DMC and density functional theory (DFT) shows that meta-generalized gradient approximation (GGA)-based van der Waals–DFT results agree with DMC for different layer stackings, including twisted bilayers, but only the ground-state AA stacking matches well with GGA-based DFT predictions. This underscores the importance of accurate exchange-correlation potentials even for capturing the stacking-dependent interlayer binding properties. We further show that the variability in DFT-predicted interlayer separations is responsible for the large discrepancy of band structures in the <b:math xmlns:b="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><b:mrow><b:mn>21</b:mn><b:mo>.</b:mo><b:msup><b:mn>79</b:mn><b:mo>∘</b:mo></b:msup></b:mrow></b:math> twisted bilayer <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><c:msub><c:mi>PtTe</c:mi><c:mn>2</c:mn></c:msub></c:math>, affecting its classification as metallic or insulating. These results demonstrate the importance of obtaining a correct description of stacking-dependent interlayer coupling in modeling delicate bilayer systems at finite twists. Published by the American Physical Society 2024