Graphene applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices have been thoroughly and intensively studied since graphene discovery. Thanks to the exceptional electronic and optical properties of graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials, they can become promising candidates for infrared and terahertz photodetectors.

Quantity of the published papers devoted to 2D materials as sensors is huge. However, authors of these papers address them mainly to researches involved in investigations of 2D materials. In the present paper this topic is treated comprehensively with including both theoretical estimations and many experimental data.

At the beginning fundamental properties and performance of graphene-based, as well as alternative 2D materials have been shortly described. Next, the position of 2D material detectors is considered in confrontation with the present stage of infrared and terahertz detectors offered on global market. A new benchmark, so-called “Law 19”, used for prediction of background limited HgCdTe photodiodes operated at near room temperature, is introduced. This law is next treated as the reference for alternative 2D material technologies. The performance comparison concerns the detector responsivity, detectivity and response time. Place of 2D material-based detectors in the near future in a wide infrared detector family is predicted in the final conclusions.