Stress-Guided Anisotropic Etching of MoS2 Nanostructures with Spatial Control over Edge Structure and Morphology

• • Stress-guided anisotropic etching produces MoS2 nano-ribbons with widths inversely proportional to applied stress magnitude; precise stress control enables width tunability for nanodevice fabrication. • • Etched edges are predominantly Mo-zigzag terminated, yielding a ~8.0-fold photoluminescence enhancement, critical for optoelectronic applications requiring high quantum efficiency. • • Edge morphology (straight vs. serrated) is determined by the angle between stress direction and crystallographic orientation, enabling deterministic edge engineering for catalytic and electronic applications. • • Biaxial stressing yields well-defined nano-square arrays, demonstrating a scalable, template-free patterning method for 2D materials, overcoming limitations of lithography and CVD.