Titanium dioxide is cheap, non-toxic, exhibits a high mechanical resistance, very stable in acidic and oxidative environments is being studied as alternative to carbon as catalyst support in low-temperature fuel cells. Herein, via pulsed laser deposition, various morphologies of TiO2 thin films are synthesized at room temperature onto conductive microfibrous carbon paper substrate, which is the type of substrate, employed in energy storage and conversion devices. TiO2 films deposited under vacuum and in the presence of mild pressure of oxygen are very smooth and dense. Instead, TiO2 films deposited in the presence of helium atmosphere are of porous structures and vertically aligned. An increase in the helium pressure leads to the formation of forest-like vertically aligned nanostructures. Micro-Raman spectroscopy reveals that the films are amorphous and of rutile phase. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that Ti is in fully oxidized state of Ti4+. The electrocatalytic supporting properties to Pt are investigated in H2SO4 and O-2-saturated H2SO4 solution. It is found that regardless of the film morphology, all the synthesized TiO2 films dramatically increase the electroactive surface area of Pt and enhance its electroactivity towards oxygen reduction reaction as compared with bare Pt electrode. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.