Constructing flexible and self-standing electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction by in situ doping nitrogen atoms into carbon cloth

[Display omitted] •Nitrogen atoms were in situ doped into carbon cloth.•The catalyst is flexible and self-standing.•The catalyst sheet can be directly as assembled in a zinc-air battery as ORR catalyst and current collector of cathode.•The catalyst is a good substrate for powder ORR catalyst. Nitrogen doped carbon materials have attracted tremendous attention as the promising candidates for platinum-based catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report a facile preparation of N-doped carbon cloth (Co-N-OCC) as a flexible and self-standing electrocatalyst toward ORR by calcining oxidized carbon cloth coated with cobalt ions in ammonia atmosphere. The pyridinic N, Co-N and pyrrolic N, related to ORR activity, are the dominant configurations of nitrogen with an atomic ratio of 42.27%, 25.36% and 20.29% in the catalyst. The resulting Co-N-OCC shows favorable ORR activity with an onset potential of 0.87 V vs. RHE, an electron transfer number of 3.57, and good methanol tolerance in alkaline electrolyte. Co-N-OCC catalyst sheets were directly assembled in zinc-air battery as catalyst and current collector of cathode. The ORR catalytic performance of Pt/C is further boosted in a zinc-air battery by using the Co-N-OCC sheet as an electrode substrate.