Exploring Tunable Properties of Tellurene van der Waals Heterostructures for Nanoelectronic Applications

Two-dimensional (2D) tellurium, known as tellurene, has emerged as a promising post-graphene material due to its unique electronic, optical, and structural properties. Its intrinsic in-plane anisotropy, strong spin–orbit coupling, thickness-dependent tunable bandgap, and excellent environmental stability make it highly suitable for nanoelectronic and optoelectronic applications. The construction of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures by integrating tellurene with other 2D materials such as transition-metal dichalcogenides offers additional degrees of freedom for tailoring material properties through interlayer coupling, strain engineering, stacking configuration, and external electric fields. This review systematically examines recent advances in tellurene-based vdW heterostructures, emphasizing tunable electronic and optical properties, band alignment engineering, and device-level performance. Key challenges and future research directions toward scalable nanoelectronic applications are also discussed.