Multiple deformable units enabling superior plasticity and softness in SnS2 van der Waals crystals

• • SnS2 bulk crystals achieve bending strains exceeding 20% and compression strains exceeding 45% without fracture, demonstrating superior plasticity for flexible electronics and mechanical forming processes. • • Tensile fracture strains reach up to ~12% (range 9%–16%), indicating moderate ductility under tension, which is critical for device reliability under mechanical stress. • • Multiple deformation units—layer segments, interlayer/cross-layer slip, twisting, and twinning-like structures—are identified via S/TEM, providing multiple strain-release pathways that underpin the observed plasticity. • • The combination of weak interlayer vdW interactions and relatively ionic, weak intralayer Sn–S bonds contributes to the material's softness and plasticity, offering design principles for other vdW crystals.