Colloquium: Spintronics in graphene and other two-dimensional materials

After the first unequivocal demonstration of spin transport in graphene (Tombros et al., 2007), surprisingly at room temperature, it was quickly realized that this novel material was relevant for both fundamental spintronics and future applications. Over the decade since, exciting results have made the field of graphene spintronics blossom, and a second generation of studies has extended to new two-dimensional (2D) compounds. This Colloquium reviews recent theoretical and experimental advances on electronic spin transport in graphene and related 2D materials, focusing on emergent phenomena in van der Waals heterostructures and the new perspectives provided by them. These phenomena include proximity-enabled spin-orbit effects, the coupling of electronic spin to light, electrical tunability, and 2D magnetism.