TiO₂ Suboxide Phases in TiO₂/C Nanocomposites Engineered by Non-hydrolytic Sol-Gel with Enhanced Electrocatalytic...

We report a non-hydrolytic sol-gel (NHSG) route to engineer original mesoporous TiO₂@TiO₂/C nanocomposites. The synthetic approach is straightforward, solvent-free, additive-free, and meets the challenge of atom economy, as it merely involves TiCl₄ and THF in stoichiometric amounts. We found that these nanocomposites present enhanced electrocatalytic properties towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1 M KOH. We believe that these preliminary results will open a window of opportunity for the design of metal suboxides/carbon nanocomposites through NHSG routes.