Symmetry breaking in 2D layered materials plays a significant role in their macroscopic electrical, optical, magnetic and topological properties, including, but not limited to, spin-polarization effects, valley-contrasting physics, nonlinear Hall effects, nematic order, ferroelectricity, Bose–Einstein condensation and unconventional superconductivity. Engineering symmetry breaking of 2D layered materials not only offers extraordinary opportunities to tune their physical properties but also provides unprecedented possibilities to introduce completely new physics and technological innovations in electronics, photonics and optoelectronics. Indeed, over the past 15 years, a wide variety of physical, structural and chemical approaches have been developed to engineer the symmetry breaking of 2D layered materials. In this Technical Review, we focus on the recent progress on engineering the breaking of inversion, rotational, time-reversal and gauge symmetries in 2D layered materials, and present our perspectives on how these may lead to new physics and applications.

二维层状材料的对称性破坏在其宏观电，光，磁和拓扑特性中起着重要作用，包括但不限于自旋极化效应，峰谷对比物理学，非线性霍尔效应，向列序，铁​​电，玻色爱因斯坦凝聚和非常规超导。二维层状材料的工程对称性破损不仅为调节其物理性质提供了绝佳机会，而且为电子，光子学和光电子学中引入全新的物理学和技术创新提供了前所未有的可能性。实际上，在过去的15年中，已经开发出多种物理，结构和化学方法来设计二维分层材料的对称破坏。在本技术评论中，