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Single-Atom-Mediated
Two-Dimensional Heterointerface
Stabilizing 1T-MoS2 for Durable Hydrogen Evolution
Item type: Other Journal Item
Mingyu Sagong; Hamin Shin; Jaewoong Lee; et al. (2026)
Abstract
The metallic 1T phase of MoS2 provides basal-plane activity and high conductivity that are absent in the semiconducting 2H polymorph, making it attractive for applications in electrocatalysis and energy conversion. However, its intrinsic metastability readily drives relaxation to the 2H ground state, and previous attempts to stabilize 1T-MoS2 have yielded only transient domains or localized perturbations without durable phase retention. Here we show that confining Pt single-atoms (SAs) at the MoS2–graphene heterointerface promotes enhanced stabilization and improved retention of 1T-associated MoS2 signatures, while simultaneously stabilizing the SAs themselves. The interfacial Pt SAs act as atomic-scale anchors, simultaneously redistributing charge and reshaping local coordination to favor the metallic 1T-associated configuration of MoS2. Spectroscopic analyses confirm persistent 1T signatures, and ex situ characterization after operation verifies reliable retention of 1T-MoS2. Density functional theory calculations further corroborate these findings, demonstrating that Pt incorporation reverses the intrinsic phase preference and energetically favors the 1T configuration. Electrochemical measurements further demonstrate nearly unchanged hydrogen evolution activity after 30,000 cycles. Together, these results establish SA-mediated heterointerface engineering as a powerful route to stabilize metastable electronic phases and unlock the full potential of layered materials for energy and electronic technologies.
The Non-Effects of the Introduction of Innovation Tax Incentives on Research and Development in Switzerland
Item type: Working Paper
Spescha, Andrin (2026)
This study investigates the introduction of the cantonal innovation tax incentives in Switzerland in the year 2020. Because some of the 26 cantons did not introduce innovation tax incentives at all, while others introduced them at different levels, we can exploit rich quasi-experimental variation. The study runs difference-in-differences using estimators that can deal with alternative forms of treatment effect heterogeneity. It thereby relies on two distinct data sources that are complementary to each other and serve as mutual replications. Whereas the policy induced changes in the B-Index serve as treatment for the intensive margin how much to invest in R&D, the policy induced changes in the maximum R&D-related corporate tax rate serve as treatment for the extensive margin whether to invest in R&D or not. The results show a null or even negative effect of the innovation tax incentives on firms’ R&D expenditures and a positive but rather small effect on the share of firms that pursue R&D activity. The new entries into R&D can also not increase total R&D expenditures in a significant way. These particular results are likely due to a lack of immediate needs for and a sub-optimal design of the introduced innovation tax incentives.
Particle transformers for identifying Lorentz-boosted Higgs bosons decaying to a pair of W bosons
Item type: Journal Article
Hayrapetyan A.; Makarenko V.; Tumasyan A.; et al. (2026)
A novel deep neural network classifier, a “particle transformer” (ParT), is introduced for the identification of highly Lorentz-boosted resonances reconstructed as single, multipronged jets in measurements and searches performed by the CMS Collaboration at the CERN LHC. Based on a self-attention mechanism that allows the model to weigh the importance of different particles, ParT is trained on a wide variety of topologies, notably demonstrating strong performance for the first time on jets originating from boosted Higgs boson decays to W bosons. The ParT algorithm achieves a tagging efficiency of more than 50% for such jets at a background efficiency of 1%, while maintaining decorrelation from the jet mass. A calibration is performed in proton-proton collision data collected by CMS at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, with a data set corresponding to a total luminosity of 138 fb−1. Data-to-simulation selection efficiency scale factors are measured to be in the 0.9–1.0 range, with relative uncertainties between 7 and 23%. The tagging capability of ParT enhances the sensitivity of standard model measurements and searches for beyond-the-standard-model resonances decaying to hadronic diboson systems.