Two-dimensional silicon: the advent of silicene

Silicene is sometimes thought of as the Si alter ego of graphene. However, experimental evidence indicates that silicene is substantially different from graphene in terms of its stability, atomic structure, electronic properties, and device process issues. Some of these aspects hamper the feasibility of silicene for practical application, but at the same time they may offer routes to engineer or functionalize silicene as a complementary material to graphene if a good control of the material can be achieved. As such, the research on silicene runs along the cutting edge between unsurmountable limitation and pioneering opportunities. In the present review, we examine the issues that are representative of this dual edge and try to make a preliminary balance of the state-of-the-art features of this material. Each relevant topic will be explored in a dedicated section. We start with the introduction of 'experimental' silicene in the so-called 'flatland' from the point of view of technology drivers and of its conceptual precursor, freestanding silicene. We then explore the following: specific aspects of the silicene on substrates; the tendency of silicene to have multiple structural forms (what we call the polymorphic nature of silicene) the role of the strong hybridization with the substrate in the electronic band structure of silicene; the Raman spectrum of silicene, and silicene processing and integration into a transistor. Finally we conclude by proposing an investigation into silicene's emerging contemporaries in the realm of elementary two-dimensional materials. Mindful of ongoing discussions and current issues, we try to go to the heart of the problems by treating each topic objectively and scientifically and we then provide our personal views in the discussion.