Fig. 2: Morphological and structural characterizations of various Pt-based samples collected from the reactions at different stages.

Typical TEM images of a initial ultrafine Pt nanowire. b Pt@PtNi nanowire intermediates. c Pt@Pt-Ni alloy CSNWs. d Final mesoporous Pt@Pt-skin Pt3Ni CSFWs. e Ex-situ XRD patterns of the samples evolvedfrom Pt nanowires into mesoporous Pt@Pt-skin Pt3Ni CSFWs. f High-resolution valence band UPS of all samples. g, h Pt 4f and Ni 2p XPS patterns of Pt@PtNi CSNWs, Pt@Pt3Ni CSFWs and mesoporous Pt@Pt-skin Pt3Ni CSFWs.