The article "Local strain engineering in atomically thin MoS₂" by Castellanos-Gomez et al. explores the effect of localized strain on the electronic properties of atomically thin MoS₂. The authors demonstrate that large localized strains, up to 2.5%, can be induced in MoS₂ layers through controlled delamination from a substrate, leading to a reduction in the direct bandgap and the funneling of photogenerated excitons towards regions of higher strain. Using photoluminescence imaging, they observe a strain-induced reduction in the direct bandgap of up to 90 meV and a funnel effect where excitons drift to lower bandgap regions before recombining. To understand these observations, the authors develop a non-uniform tight-binding model to calculate the electronic properties of MoS₂ nanolayers with complex and realistic local strain geometries, finding good agreement with their experimental results. This study highlights the potential of local strain engineering to tune the optoelectronic properties of atomically thin materials, opening up applications in photovoltaics, quantum optics, and two-dimensional optoelectronic devices.The article "Local strain engineering in atomically thin MoS₂" by Castellanos-Gomez et al. explores the effect of localized strain on the electronic properties of atomically thin MoS₂. The authors demonstrate that large localized strains, up to 2.5%, can be induced in MoS₂ layers through controlled delamination from a substrate, leading to a reduction in the direct bandgap and the funneling of photogenerated excitons towards regions of higher strain. Using photoluminescence imaging, they observe a strain-induced reduction in the direct bandgap of up to 90 meV and a funnel effect where excitons drift to lower bandgap regions before recombining. To understand these observations, the authors develop a non-uniform tight-binding model to calculate the electronic properties of MoS₂ nanolayers with complex and realistic local strain geometries, finding good agreement with their experimental results. This study highlights the potential of local strain engineering to tune the optoelectronic properties of atomically thin materials, opening up applications in photovoltaics, quantum optics, and two-dimensional optoelectronic devices.