Exploring self-supported electrodes with effective oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and durability is of great significance for the future development of metal-air batteries and fuel cells. However, there remain serious challenges in identifying suitable materials and developing sustainable fabrication processes to achieve highly efficient, durable and low-cost self-supported air cathodes. In this work, we report a facile and environmentally friendly method to fabricate electrocatalytic carbon electrodes from commercial cotton fabrics with excellent ORR activity. The iron and nitrogen co-doped carbon fabrics possess outstanding ORR catalytic performance comparable with that of Pt/C, with an onset potential of 0.92 V (vs. RHE) and an electron transfer number close to 4. The experimental results have shown that our carbonisation process can give a high specific surface area (1769 m²/g) with a hierarchical porous structure. Doping leads to the formation of Fe-N_χ species with excellent catalytic activity and durability. Finally, both fundamental understanding of liquid Zn-air battery with well-ground catalysts powders from carbon fabric and practical application of self-supported carbon fabric electrode in solid-state Zn-air battery exhibit promising performance. Our results strongly suggest that natural cellulose fabrics can be a promising material for fabricating highly active, durable and affordable air cathodes for many renewable energy devices such as metal-air batteries and fuel cells.

Graphical abstract

探索具有有效氧还原反应（ORR）活性和耐久性的自支撑电极对金属空气电池和燃料电池的未来发展具有重要意义。然而，在寻找合适的材料并开发可持续的制造工艺以实现高效，耐用和低成本的自支撑式空气阴极方面仍然存在严峻的挑战。在这项工作中，我们报告了一种由具有优良ORR活性的商品棉织物制造电催化碳电极的简便且环保的方法。铁和氮共掺杂碳纤维织物具有与Pt / C相当的出色的ORR催化性能，起始电势为0.92 V（vs. RHE），电子转移数接近4。² / g）具有分级的多孔结构。掺杂导致形成具有优异催化活性和耐久性的Fe- _Nχ物种。最后，对从碳纤维织物上研磨良好的催化剂粉末对液态锌空气电池的基本了解以及自支撑碳纤维电极在固态锌空气电池中的实际应用都显示出令人鼓舞的性能。我们的研究结果强烈表明，天然纤维素织物可以成为制造许多金属，空气电池和燃料电池等可再生能源设备的高活性，耐用且价格合理的空气阴极的有前途的材料。

图形概要