Twist-angle-controlled anomalous gating in bilayer graphene/BN heterostructures

Nature Materials (2026) Cite this article Anomalous gating effects—such as ineffective electrostatic control and strong hysteresis in resistance—have been observed in graphene-based systems encapsulated in boron nitride (BN) and linked to a possible ferroelectric state. However, their origin, stability and reproducibility remain under debate. Here we show, using dual-gated, dynamically rotatable van der Waals heterostructures based on bilayer graphene encapsulated in BN, that the angular alignment between the two BN layers—rather than the presence of a moiré superlattice with graphene—is the key parameter governing these effects. The relevant alignment between the two BN layers, to observe the anomalous gating effect at room temperature, lies between approximately 15° and 45°, with no evidence of the expected 60° periodicity. Both gate ineffectiveness and hysteresis are highly sensitive to small angular changes, which we classify into three distinct regimes. Our results clarify the conditions necessary to reproduce these phenomena and pave the way for theoretical investigation of their microscopic origins.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any timeSubscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per yearonly $21.58 per issueBuy this articleUSD 39.95Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutThe source data underlying Figs. 1–4 are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20327059 (ref. 27). All raw data generated during the current study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.Lin, F. et al. Room temperature ferroelectricity in monolayer graphene sandwiched between hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Commun. 16, 1189 (2025).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Zhang, L. et al. Electronic ferroelectricity in monolayer graphene moiré superlattices. Nat. Commun. 15, 10905 (2024).Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Zheng, Z. et al. Unconventional ferroelectricity in moiré heterostructures. Nature 588, 71–76 (2020).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Niu, R. et al. Giant ferroelectric polarization in a bilayer graphene heterostructure. Nat. Commun. 13, 6241 (2022).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Singh, A. et al. Stacking-induced ferroelectricity in tetralayer graphene. Nano Lett. 26, 4642–4649 (2026).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Klein, D. R. et al. Electrical switching of a bistable moiré superconductor. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 331–335 (2023).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Chen, L. et al. Anomalous gate-tunable capacitance in graphene moiré heterostructures. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/2405.03976 (2024).Waters, D. et al. Anomalous hysteresis in graphite/boron nitride transistors. Nano Lett. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c01799 (2025).Niu, R. et al. Ferroelectricity with concomitant Coulomb screening in van der Waals heterostructures. Nat. Nanotechnol. 20, 346–352 (2025).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Yasuda, K. et al. Ultrafast high-endurance memory based on sliding ferroelectrics. Science 0, eadp3575 (2024).

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