Direct synthesis of pure single-crystalline Magnéli phase Ti8O15 nanowires as conductive carbon-free materials for electrocatalysisElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Additional data for the characterization and experimental details see DOI: 10.1039/c4nr05806b

The Magnéli phase Ti 8 O 15 nanowires (NWs) have been grown directly on a Ti substrate by a facile one-step evaporation-deposition synthesis method under a hydrogen atmosphere. The Ti 8 O 15 NWs exhibit an outstanding electrical conductivity at room temperature. The electrical conductivity of a single Ti 8 O 15 nanowire is 20.6 S cm −1 at 300 K. Theoretical calculations manifest that the existence of a large number of oxygen vacancies changes the band structure, resulting in the reduction of the electronic resistance. The Magnéli phase Ti 8 O 15 nanowires have been used as conductive carbon-free supports to load Pt nanoparticles for direct methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The Pt/Ti 8 O 15 NWs show an enhanced activity and extremely high durability compared with commercial Pt/C catalysts. The Magnéli phase Ti 8 O 15 nanowires have been synthesized and used as conductive carbon-free supports to load Pt nanoparticles for direct methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) with higher performance.