Recent advances in thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, spintronics, and topological properties for two-dimensional Group VIA compounds: A mini-review

• The piezoelectric, thermoelectric, spintronic, and topological properties of stable two-dimensional compounds composed of Group VIA elements are reviewed. • Several systems exhibit ultra-high ZT, giant piezoelectricity, tunable Rashba splitting, and non-trivial topological states, promising for low-power spintronic and topological devices. • Diverse structural designs (elemental, Janus, ternary) are accessible, with clear structure–property relationships established • This review summarizes synthetic strategies and challenges, offering fundamental guidance for the rational design of high-performance 2D Group VIA materials. Beyond graphene, two-dimensional (2D) Group VIA elemental materials (tellurene, selenene) and their derived binary/ternary compounds have emerged as versatile materials with exceptional physicochemical properties, which include thickness-dependent band gaps, high carrier mobility, remarkable thermoelectricity, piezoelectrictiy, and spintronic and topological performance. This review comprehensively explores the structural design space of these materials, encompassing unary, Janus, and ternary configurations, and establishes robust structure–property relationships. Key findings highlight the high thermoelectric figures of merit (e.g., ZT up to 14.3 in 1 T-S 2 Te), giant in-plane piezoelectric coefficients (e.g., d 11 ∼ 39.21 pm/V for Janus STe 2 ) surpassing most known 2D materials, and tunable Rashba spin-splitting alongside the identification of a bipolar Rashba semiconductor for gate-controlled spintronics. Furthermore, we discuss the emergence of non-trivial topological states in specific allotropes. Tellurium shows promise for room-temperature Quantum Spin Hall Effect (QSHE) systems and topological property-based devices. Additionally, this paper summarizes and discusses the existing feasible synthetic strategies. However, such materials still face challenges in large-scale preparation, stability improvement, and theory–experiment consistency. Overcoming these will unlock great potential for next-generation applications in sustainable energy conversion, ultra-low power electronics, and quantum spin-topotronics. This work provides a foundational guide for the targeted design and development of high-performance Group VIA-based 2D materials.