Atomistic Insights into Elemental Two-Dimensional Materials and Their Heterostructures

Inspired by the success of graphene, two-dimensional (2D) materials have been at the forefront of advanced (opto-)nanoelectronics and energy-related fields owing to their exotic properties like sizable bandgaps, Dirac fermions, quantum spin Hall states, topological edge states, and ballistic charge carrier transport, which hold promise for various electronic device applications. Emerging main group elemental 2D materials, beyond graphene, are of particular interest due to their unique structural characteristics, ease of synthetic exploration, and superior property tunability. In this review, we present recent advances in atomic-scale studies of elemental 2D materials with an emphasis on synthetic strategies and structural properties. We also discuss the challenges and perspectives regarding the integration of elemental 2D materials into various heterostructures.