The future of Xenes beyond graphene: challenges and perspective

After more than ten years since the silicene discovery, many Xenes, the class of elemental graphene-like lattices, have now enriched the two-dimensional periodic table of elements. Here, we provide a perspective on the future of the Xenes by briefly summarizing their properties and devices reported thus far. Two main challenges are expected to focus the scientists’ attention to bring the Xenes to the next level. To step over the current scenario the Xenes need standardization either in the growth or in the fabrication of devices, aiming at the wafer-scale and the reliability and stability, respectively. The benefits arising from these challenges will enable the concept of hybrid Xenes and hybrid Xenes-based devices, that is a combination of different Xenes with new properties and multifunctional Xenes-based devices, respectively, with potential unexpected fascinating properties to continue the journey.