Novel two-dimensional monoelemental and ternary materials: growth, physics and application

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have undergone a rapid development toward real applications since the discovery of graphene. At first, graphene is a star material because of the ultrahigh mobility and novel physics, but it always suffered from zero bandgap and limited device application. Then, 2D binary compounds such as transition-metal chalcogenides emerged as complementary materials for graphene due to their sizable bandgap and moderate electrical properties. Recently, research interests have turned to monoelemental and ternary 2D materials. Among them, monoelemental 2D materials such as arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), tellurium (Te), etc., have been the focus. For example, bismuthene can act as a 2D topological insulator with nontrivial topological edge states and high bulk gap, providing the novel platforms to realize the quantum spin-Hall systems. Meanwhile, ternary 2D materials such as Bi₂O₂Se, BiOX and CrOX (X=Cl, Br, I) have also emerged as promising candidates in optoelectronics and spintronics due to their extraordinary mobility, favorable band structures and intrinsic ferromagnetism with high Curie temperature. In this review, we will discuss the recent works and future prospects on the emerging monoelemental and ternary materials in terms of their structure, growth, physics and device applications.