Carbon fiber cloth supported Au nano-textile fabrics as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen peroxide electroreduction in acid medium

• Textile-like Au particles are electrodeposited on CFC via electrodeposition.
• Au NTs/Ni foam electrode shows high catalytic activity for H2O2 electroreduction.
• The single Au particle is actually consisted of many interconnected nanospikes.

The size-controlled hierarchical textile-like Au nanostructures supported carbon fiber cloth (Au NTs/CFC) is successfully fabricated through a simple low-cost electrochemical route. The electrodes are characterised by scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometer. Without any conducting carbons and polymer binders, the 3D electrode with unique structure is directly used as the electrocatalyst for H2O2 reduction in acid solution and the catalytic performance is evaluated by voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The Au NTs/CFC electrode exhibits much higher catalytic activity and remarkably improved utilization of Au than Au nanoparticles (Au NPs/CFC) prepared by the same method owing to its unique structure. In the solution of 3.0 mol L−1 H2SO4 + 0.1 mol L−1 H2O2, with the reduction potential of 0 V, the current of −0.72 A cm−2 mg−1 can be obtained on Au NTs/CFC electrode and only a current of −0.09 A cm−2 mg−1 can be achieved on Au NPs/CFC electrode. All these results reveal that the novel Au NTs/CFC electrode exhibits excellent catalytic performance and superior stability for H2O2 electroreduction in acid medium, benefitting from the unique 3D structure which can ensure high utilization of catalyst.