The scaling of complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology is increasingly challenging, but demand for low-power data storage and processing continues to grow. The ability to generate, transport and manipulate spin signals in two-dimensional (2D) materials suggests that they could provide a suitable platform to build beyond-CMOS spintronic devices. Here we review the development of 2D spintronics and explore its potential to deliver devices and circuits for low-power electronic applications. We examine the elementary spintronic functionalities and how they can be used to build electronic devices and circuits. We also consider the challenges that must be addressed to deliver practical memory and logic devices.

互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）技术的规模扩展越来越具有挑战性，但是对低功耗数据存储和处理的需求仍在不断增长。生成，传输和操纵二维（2D）材料中的自旋信号的能力表明，它们可以为构建超越CMOS自旋电子器件的平台提供合适的平台。在这里，我们回顾了2D自旋电子学的发展，并探讨了其为低功率电子应用提供设备和电路的潜力。我们研究了基本的自旋电子功能，以及如何将其用于构建电子设备和电路。我们还考虑了交付实用的存储器和逻辑设备所必须解决的挑战。