Compactly Coupled Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanosheets/Molybdenum Phosphide Nanocrystal Hollow Nanospheres as Polysulfide Reservoirs for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Chemistry

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have been disclosed as one of the most promising energy storage systems. However, the low utilization of sulfur, the detrimental shuttling behavior of polysulfides, and the sluggish kinetics in electrochemical processes, severely impede their application. Herein, 3D hierarchical nitrogen‐doped carbon nanosheets/molybdenum phosphide nanocrystal hollow nanospheres (MoP@C/N HCSs) are introduced to Li–S batteries via decorating commercial separators to inhibit polysulfides diffusion. It acts not only as a polysulfides immobilizer to provide strong physical trapping and chemical anchoring toward polysulfides, but also as an electrocatalyst to accelerate the kinetics of the polysulfides redox reaction, and to lower the Li₂S nucleation/dissolution interfacial energy barrier and self‐discharge capacity loss in working Li–S batteries, simultaneously. As a result, the Li–S batteries with MoP@C/N HCS‐modified separators show superior rate capability (920 mAh g^?1 at 2 C) and stable cycling life with only 0.04% capacity decay per cycle over 500 cycles at 1 C with nearly 100% Coulombic efficiency. Furthermore, the Li–S battery can achieve a high area capacity of 5.1 mAh cm^?2 with satisfied capacity retention when the cathode loading reaches 5.5 mg cm^?2. This work offers a brand new guidance for rational separator design into the energy chemistry of high‐stable Li–S batteries.     

Hybrid of spinel zinc-cobalt oxide nanospheres combined with nitrogen-containing carbon nanofibers as advanced electrocatalyst for redox reaction in lithium/polysulfides batteries

The polysulfides shuttle effect and torpid kinetic are of the crucial barriers for lithium/sulfur batteries. Herein, nitrogen-containing carbon nanofibers (NCFs) combined with spinel zinc-cobalt oxide (ZCO) nanospheres hybrid (denoted as ZCONCFs) were designed as membrane electrode containing Li₂S₆ catholyte for lithium/polysulfides batteries, which promote electrochemical performance by suppressing the shuttle effect and enhancing the redox kinetics of lithium polysulfides. The conductive NCFs provide fast electronic transport and anchored ZCO nanospheres possess a strong affinity to sulfur species, which could effectively anchor lithium polysulfides, boost their redox reaction catalytically-accelerate the reversible soluble/insoluble phases conversion process, and greatly improve the utilization of active material. The results show that ZCONCFs membrane electrode with 5 mg sulfur loading exhibited stability cycling capacity and improved reaction kinetics, which delivered a high initial capacity of 1160 mAh g^?1 at 0.2C and sustain a capacity of 830 mAh g^?1 after 300 cycles. The cell with ZCONCFs exhibits 8.22 mAh under the sulfur loading of 10 mg and the capacity decay rate is 0.11% per cycle after 150 cycles. This effective method could significantly improve the application capacity of lithium/sulfur batteries.     

The Structural and Electronic Engineering of Molybdenum Disulfide Nanosheets as Carbon-Free Sulfur Hosts for Boosting Energy Density and Cycling Life of Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

The compact sulfur cathodes with high sulfur content and high sulfur loading are crucial to promise high energy density of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. However, some daunting problems, such as low sulfur utilization efficiency, serious polysulfides shuttling, and poor rate performance, are usually accompanied during practical deployment. The sulfur hosts play key roles. Herein, the carbon-free sulfur host composed of vanadium-doped molybdenum disulfide (VMS) nanosheets is reported. Benefiting from the basal plane activation of molybdenum disulfide and structural advantage of VMS, high stacking density of sulfur cathode is allowed for high areal and volumetric capacities of the electrodes together with the effective suppression of polysulfides shuttling and the expedited redox kinetics of sulfur species during cycling. The resultant electrode with high sulfur content of 89 wt.% and high sulfur loading of 7.2 mg cm⁻² achieves high gravimetric capacity of 900.9 mAh g⁻¹, the areal capacity of 6.48 mAh cm⁻², and volumetric capacity of 940 mAh cm⁻³ at 0.5 C. The electrochemical performance can rival with the state-of-the-art those in the reported Li–S batteries. This work provides methodology guidance for the development of the cathode materials to achieve high-energy-density and long-life Li–S batteries.     

Design Multifunctional Catalytic Interface: Toward Regulation of Polysulfide and Li2S Redox Conversion in Li–S Batteries

The polysulfide shuttle effect and sluggish reaction kinetics hamper the practical applications of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Incorporating a functional interlayer to trapping and binding polysulfides has been found effective to block polysulfide migration. Furthermore, surface chemistry at soluble polysulfides/electrolyte interface is a crucial step for Li–S battery in which stable cycling depends on adsorption and reutilization of blocked polysulfides in the electrolyte. A multifunctional catalytic interface composed of niobium nitride/N‐doped graphene (NbN/NG) along the soluble polysulfides/electrolyte is designed and constructed to regulate corresponding interface chemical reaction, which can afford long‐range electron transfer surfaces, numerous strong chemisorption, and catalytic sites in a working lithium–sulfur battery. Both experimental and theoretical calculation results suggest that a new catalytic interface enabled by metal‐like NbN with superb electrocatalysis anchored on NG is highly effective in regulating the blocked polysulfide redox reaction and tailoring the Li₂S nucleation–growth–decomposition process. Therefore, the Li–S batteries with multifunctional NbN/NG barrier exhibit excellent rate performance (621.2 mAh g^?1 at 3 C) and high stable cycling life (81.5% capacity retention after 400 cycles). This work provides new insights to promote Li–S batteries via multifunctional catalytic interface engineering.     

Highly Safe Electrolyte Enabled via Controllable Polysulfide Release and Efficient Conversion for Advanced Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Conventional lithium–sulfur batteries often suffer from fatal problems such as high flammability, polysulfide shuttling, and lithium dendrites growth. Here, highly‐safe lithium–sulfur batteries based on flame‐retardant electrolyte (dimethoxyether/1,1,2,2‐tetrafluoroethyl 2,2,3,3‐tetrafluoropropyl ether) coupled with functional separator (nanoconductive carbon‐coated cellulose nonwoven) to resolve aforementioned bottle‐neck issues are demonstrated. It is found that this flame‐retardant electrolyte exhibits excellent flame retardancy and low solubility of polysulfide. In addition, Li/Li symmetrical cells using such flame‐retardant electrolyte deliver extraordinary long‐term cycling stability (less than 10 mV overpotential) for over 2500 h at 1.0 mA cm^?2 and 1.0 mAh cm^?2. Moreover, bare sulfur cathode–based lithium–sulfur batteries using this flame retardant electrolyte coupled with nanoconductive carbon‐coated cellulose separator can retain 83.6% discharge capacity after 200 cycles at 0.5 C. Under high charge/discharge rate (4 C), lithium–sulfur cells still show high charge/discharge capacity of ≈350 mAh g^?1. Even at an elevated temperature of 60 °C, discharge capacity of 870 mAh g^?1 can be retained. More importantly, high‐loading bare sulfur cathode (4 mg cm^?2)–based lithium–sulfur batteries can also deliver high charge/discharge capacity over 806 mAh g^?1 after 56 cycles. Undoubtedly, the strategy of flame retardant electrolyte coupled with carbon‐coated separator enlightens highly safe lithium–sulfur batteries at a wide range of temperature.     

Regulating Electrochemical Kinetics of CoP by Incorporating Oxygen on Surface for High-Performance Li–S Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are widely studied because of their high theoretical specific capacity and environmental friendliness. However, the further development of Li–S batteries is hindered by the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and the sluggish redox kinetics. Since the adsorption and catalytic conversion of LiPSs mainly occur on the surface of the electrocatalyst, regulating the surface structure of electrocatalysts is an advisable strategy to solve the obstacles in Li–S batteries. Herein, CoP nanoparticles with high oxygen content on surface embedded in hollow carbon nanocages (C/O-CoP) is employed to functionalize the separators and the effect of the surface oxygen content of CoP on the electrochemical performance is systematically explored. Increasing the oxygen content on CoP surface can enhance the chemical adsorption to lithium polysulfides and accelerate the redox conversions kinetics of polysulfides. The cell with C/O-CoP modified separator can achieve the capacity of 1033 mAh g⁻¹ and maintain 749 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 2 C. Moreover, DFT calculations are used to reveal the enhancement mechanism of oxygen content on surface of CoP in Li–S chemistry. This work offers a new insight into developing high-performance Li–S batteries from the perspective of surface engineering.     

Cationic Covalent‐Organic Framework as Efficient Redox Motor for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

The shuttle effect of soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) leads to the rapid decay of sulfur cathode, severely hindering the practical applications of lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries. To this point, a covalent‐organic framework (COF) with proper cationic sites, which can be utilized as the cathode host of high‐performance Li–S batteries, is reported. The chemical sulfur anchoring within micropores effectively suppresses the dissolution of LiPSs into the electrolyte. During the discharge step, the cationic sites can accept electrons from anode and deliver them to polysulfides to facilitate the polysulfides' disintegration. Meanwhile, the cationic sites can receive electrons from polysulfides and then send them to the anode during the charge process, which promotes the polysulfides oxidation. Thus, both experiments and computational modeling show that the cationic COF can effectively inhibit the shuttle effect of LiPSs and improve the batteries' performances. Compared with electrically neutral COFs, the cationic COF‐based batteries show much better cycling stability even at high current density, for instance, a high specific capacity of 468 mA h g^?1 is retained after 300 cycles at a current density of 4.0 C.     

A Dual-Functional Conductive Framework Embedded with TiN-VN Heterostructures for Highly Efficient Polysulfide and Lithium Regulation toward Stable Li–S Full Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are strongly considered as next-generation energy storage systems because of their high energy density. However, the shuttling of lithium polysulfides (LiPS), sluggish reaction kinetics, and uncontrollable Li-dendrite growth severely degrade the electrochemical performance of Li–S batteries. Herein, a dual-functional flexible free-standing carbon nanofiber conductive framework in situ embedded with TiN-VN heterostructures (TiN-VN@CNFs) as an advanced host simultaneously for both the sulfur cathode (S/TiN-VN@CNFs) and the lithium anode (Li/TiN-VN@CNFs) is designed. As cathode host, the TiN-VN@CNFs can offer synergistic function of physical confinement, chemical anchoring, and superb electrocatalysis of LiPS redox reactions. Meanwhile, the well-designed host with excellent lithiophilic feature can realize homogeneous lithium deposition for suppressing dendrite growth. Combined with these merits, the full battery (denoted as S/TiN-VN@CNFs || Li/TiN-VN@CNFs) exhibits remarkable electrochemical properties including high reversible capacity of 1110 mAh g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at 0.2 C and ultralong cycle life over 600 cycles at 2 C. Even with a high sulfur loading of 5.6 mg cm⁻², the full cell can achieve a high areal capacity of 5.5 mAh cm⁻² at 0.1 C. This work paves a new design from theoretical and experimental aspects for fabricating high-energy-density flexible Li–S full batteries.     

A Praline‐Like Flexible Interlayer with Highly Mounted Polysulfide Anchors for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

The development of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries is dogged by the rapid capacity decay arising from polysulfide dissolution and diffusion in organic electrolytes. To solve this critical issue, a praline‐like flexible interlayer consisting of high‐loading titanium oxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles and relatively long carbon nanofibers is fabricated. TiO₂ nanoparticles with a size gradient occupy both the external and internal of carbon fiber and serve as anchors that allow the chemical adsorption of polysulfides through a conductive nanoarchitecture. The porous conductive carbon backbone helps in the physical absorption of polysulfides and provides redox reaction sites to allow the polysulfides to be reused. More importantly, it offers enough mechanical strength to support a high load TiO₂ nanoparticle (79 wt%) that maximizes their chemical role, and can accommodate the large volume changes. Significant enhancement in cycle stability and rate capability is achieved for a readily available sulfur/multi‐walled carbon nanotube composite cathode simply by incorporating this hierarchically nanostructured interlayer. The design and synthesis of interlayers by in situ integration of metal oxides and carbon fibers via a simple route offers the potential to advance Li–S batteries for practical applications in the future.     

Implanting Niobium Carbide into Trichoderma Spore Carbon: a New Advanced Host for Sulfur Cathodes

Tailored construction of advanced carbon hosts is playing a great role in the development of high‐performance lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). Herein, a novel N,P‐codoped trichoderma spore carbon (TSC) with a bowl structure, prepared by a “trichoderma bioreactor” and annealing process is reported. Moreover, TSC shows excellent compatibility with conductive niobium carbide (NbC), which is in situ implanted into the TSC matrix in the form of nanoparticles forming a highly porous TSC/NbC host. Importantly, NbC plays a dual role in TSC for not only pore formation but also enhancement of conductivity. Excitingly, the sulfur can be well accommodated in the TSC/NbC host forming a high‐performance TSC/NbC‐S cathode, which exhibits greatly enhanced rate performance (810 mAh g^?1 at 5 C) and long cycling life (937.9 mAh g^?1 at 0.1 C after 500 cycles), superior to TSC‐S and other carbon/S counterparts due to the larger porosity, higher conductivity, and better synergetic trapping effect for the soluble polysulfide intermediate. The synergetic work of porous the conductive architecture, heterodoped N&P polar sites in TSC and polar conductive NbC provides new opportunities for enhancing physisorption and chemisorption of polysulfides leading to higher capacity and better rate capability.     

A Highly Conductive MOF of Graphene Analogue Ni3(HITP)2 as a Sulfur Host for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have been considered as one of the most promising energy storage systems owing to their high theoretical capacity and energy density. However, their commercial applications are obstructed by sluggish reaction kinetics and rapid capacity degradation mainly caused by polysulfide shuttling. Herein, the first attempt to utilize a highly conductive metal–organic framework (MOF) of Ni₃(HITP)₂ graphene analogue as the sulfur host material to trap and transform polysulfides for high‐performance Li–S batteries is made. Besides, the traditional conductive additive acetylene black is replaced by carbon nanotubes to construct matrix conduction networks for triggering the rate and cycling performance of the active cathode. As a result, the S@Ni₃(HITP)₂ with sulfur content of 65.5 wt% shows excellent sulfur utilization, rate performance, and cyclic durability. It delivers a high initial capacity of 1302.9 mAh g^?1 and good capacity retention of 848.9 mAh g^?1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C. Highly reversible discharge capacities of 807.4 and 629.6 mAh g^?1 are obtained at 0.5 and 1 C for 150 and 300 cycles, respectively. Such kinds of pristine MOFs with high conductivity and abundant polar sites reveal broad promising prospect for application in the field of high‐performance Li–S batteries.     

A Host‐Configured Lithium–Sulfur Cell Built on 3D Nickel Photonic Crystal with Superior Electrochemical Performances

The insulator of the sulfur cathode and the easy dendrites growth of the lithium anode are the main barriers for lithium–sulfur cells in commercial application. Here, a 3D NPC@S/3D NPC@Li full cell is reported based on 3D hierarchical and continuously porous nickel photonic crystal (NPC) to solve the problems of sulfur cathode and lithium anode at the same time. In this case, the 3D NPC@S cathode can not only offer a fast transfer of electron and lithium ion, but also effectively prevent the dissolution of polysulfides and the tremendous volume change during cycling, and the 3D NPC@Li anode can efficiently inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites and volume expansion, too. As a result, the cell exhibits a high reversible capacity of 1383 mAh g^?1 at 0.5 C (the current density of 837 mA g^?1), superior rate ability (the reversible capacity of 735 mAh g^?1 at the extremely high current density of 16 750 mA g^?1) with excellent coulombic efficiency of about 100% and an excellent cycle life over 500 cycles with only about 0.026% capacity loss per cycle.     

TiO2 and Co Nanoparticle‐Decorated Carbon Polyhedra as Efficient Sulfur Host for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs)‐derived porous carbon is proposed as a promising candidate to develop novel, tailorable structures as polysulfides immobilizers for lithium–sulfur batteries because of their high‐efficiency electron conductive networks, open ion channels, and abundant central ions that can store a large amount of sulfur and trap the easily soluble polysulfides. However, most central ions in MOFs‐derived carbon framework are encapsulated in the carbon matrix so that their exposures as active sites to adsorb polysulfides are limited. To resolve this issue, highly dispersed TiO₂ nanoparticles are anchored into the cobalt‐containing carbon polyhedras that are converted from ZIF‐67. Such a type of TiO₂ and Co nanoparticles‐decorated carbon polyhedras (C? Co/TiO₂) provide more exposed active sites and much stronger chemical trapping for polysulfides, hence improving the sulfur utilization and enhancing reaction kinetics of sulfur‐containing cathode simultaneously. The sulfur‐containing carbon polyhedras decorated with TiO₂ nanoparticles (S@C? Co/TiO₂) show a significantly improved cycling stability and rate capability, and deliver a discharge capacity of 32.9% higher than that of TiO₂‐free S@C? Co cathode at 837.5 mA g^?1 after 200 cycles.     

多孔兰尼镍作单质硫载体的锂硫电池性能

提出以导电多孔兰尼镍（RNi）为锂硫电池中单质S的新载体材料,探究了S/RNi复合材料在溶剂法、研磨高温法及球磨高温法下的电化学性能差异。结果表明,溶剂法制备的S/RNi复合材料的电化学性能最好。预处理后的RNi为海绵状的导电多孔结构,孔径分布在12.5~50 nm之间。SEM和XRD表明,溶剂法制备的S/RNi复合材料具备良好的孔结构,单质S颗粒较小,均匀分布在深层孔结构中,S与RNi充分接触。其首次放电比容量达到1 479 mAh/g,经过200次充放电循环后放电比容量保持在765 mAh/g,库伦效率约为99%。其循环性能也优于传统S/C复合材料。溶剂法制备的S/RNi复合材料的循环稳定性和高倍率性能得益于RNi的导电性及对单质S的物理和化学吸附。     

Free-standing graphene@carbon hollow sphere confining high-loading sulfur cathode for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Practical applications of lithium–sulfur batteries are not satisfactory due to the poor conductivity, large volume expansion, dissolution of polysulfides, low sulfur content, and sulfur loading. Herein, free-standing graphene@carbon hollow sphere confining sulfur composite (G@C-HS@S) was prepared by ice template technology and vacuum immersion method for high-loading Li–S batteries. Ice template technology was used to adjust the vertical pore structure of the free-standing G@C-HS gel, allowing for easier ion transport. A three-dimensional G@C-HS framework with physical confinement improves the conductivity of cathode and inhibits the loss of sulfur and polysulfide, in which C-HS also greatly alleviates the volume expansion of sulfur. Sulfur is ingeniously encapsulated into G@C-HS framework by vacuum immersion method, achieving a high sulfur content of 81% and a high sulfur loading of 7.29 mg cm^?2. Benefiting from the above synergistic effects, G@C-HS@S delivers a specific capacity of 1187 mAh g^?1 at 0.1 C, a superior rate capability of 643 mAh g^?1 at 10 C, and an excellent cycle life of 61.8% after 700 cycles. The above results provide an effective route for high-performance Li–S batteries.

     

CeO2纳米晶的添加对锂硫电池电化学性能的影响

以Ce(OH)₄为原料, 采用热分解法制备得到粒径小于10 nm的CeO₂纳米晶。制备得到的CeO₂纳米晶表面存在丰富的羟基和硝基, 作为硫正极添加剂, 一方面可以有效吸附硫和多硫化锂, 抑制多硫化锂在电解液中的溶解和穿梭效应的发生, 进而提高电池的循环性能。同时, 可以改善电极和电解液之间的接触性, 提高活性物质利用率。其中, 含有5wt%的CeO₂纳米晶的锂硫电池在0.1C和0.5C(1C=1675 mA/g)的充放电倍率下, 100周之后放电比容量分别达750 mAh/g和598 mAh/g, 远高于不含有CeO₂纳米晶的523 mAh/g和395 mAh/g, 同时, 循环前后的电池阻抗也明显降低。     

Implanting Atomic Cobalt within Mesoporous Carbon toward Highly Stable Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries hold great promise to serve as next‐generation energy storage devices. However, the practical performances of Li–S batteries are severely limited by the sulfur cathode regarding its low conductivity, huge volume change, and the polysulfide shuttle effect. The first two issues have been well addressed by introducing mesoporous carbon hosts to the sulfur cathode. Unfortunately, the nonpolar nature of carbon materials renders poor affinity to polar polysulfides, leaving the shuttling issue unaddressed. In this contribution, atomic cobalt is implanted within the skeleton of mesoporous carbon via a supramolecular self‐templating strategy, which simultaneously improves the interaction with polysulfides and maintains the mesoporous structure. Moreover, the atomic cobalt dopants serve as active sites to improve the kinetics of the sulfur redox reactions. With the atomic‐cobalt‐decorated mesoporous carbon host, a high capacity of 1130 mAh g_S^?1 at 0.5 C and a high stability with a retention of 74.1% after 300 cycles are realized. Implanting atomic metal in mesoporous carbon demonstrates a feasible strategy to endow nanomaterials with targeted functions for Li–S batteries and broad applications.     

Establishing Transition Metal Phosphides as Effective Sulfur Hosts in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries through the Triple Effect of “Confinement–Adsorption–Catalysis”

Structurally optimized transition metal phosphides are identified as a promising avenue for the commercialization of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. In this study, a CoP nanoparticle-doped hollow ordered mesoporous carbon sphere (CoP-OMCS) is developed as a S host with a “Confinement–Adsorption–Catalysis” triple effect for Li–S batteries. The Li-S batteries with CoP-OMCS/S cathode demonstrate excellent performance, delivering a discharge capacity of 1148 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.5 C and good cycling stability with a low long-cycle capacity decay rate of 0.059% per cycle. Even at a high current density of 2 C after 200 cycles, a high specific discharge capacity of 524 mAh g⁻¹ is maintained. Moreover, a reversible areal capacity of 6.56 mAh cm⁻² is achieved after 100 cycles at 0.2 C, despite a high S loading of 6.8 mg cm⁻². Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that CoP exhibits enhanced adsorption capacity for sulfur-containing substances. Additionally, the optimized electronic structure of CoP significantly reduces the energy barrier during the conversion of Li₂S₄ (L) to Li₂S₂ (S). In summary, this work provides a promising approach to optimize transition metal phosphide materials structurally and design cathodes for Li–S batteries.     

多壁碳纳米管纸作正极集流体的锂硫电池性能

为了改善锂硫电池的循环性能,以纸纤维为基体,多壁碳纳米管(MWCNTs)为导电剂,采用真空抽滤法制得MWCNTs导电纸,并将MWCNTs导电纸作为正极集流体代替铝箔应用于锂硫电池。对MWCNTs导电纸进行了形貌结构表征和电化学性能测试,并对循环后的MWCNTs导电纸电极进行EDS检测。结果显示,MWCNTs均匀地附着在纸纤维基体上,多空隙的MWCNTs导电纸三维结构明显。采用MWCNTs导电纸作集流体的锂硫电池在0.05C和1C倍率充放电下循环30次,比容量分别保持615mAh/g、496mAh/g,库伦效率达97.5%以上,且电荷转移电阻在循环后降低。EDS元素分析结果证实MWCNTs导电纸对多硫化锂有吸附作用,从而一定程度抑制了锂硫电池的穿梭效应。因此,以MWCNTs导电纸作为集流体能有效增加活性物质硫的负载量和接触面积,使锂硫电池具有良好的循环稳定性和库伦效率性能。     

S,N-codoped carbon capsules with microsized entrance: Highly stable S reservoir for Li-S batteries

Nanostructured carbon materials are extensively applied as host materials to improve the utilization rate and reversibility of elemental sulfur in lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Here, S, N-codoped carbon capsules (SNCCs) with microporous walls, prepared by a self-assembly process, are used as the sulfur host material in Li-S batteries. The SNCCs provide plenty of micron-sized cavities to accommodate a high S loading, which are sealed by thick walls with microsized entrance to efficently suppress the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides. As the cathode in Li-S battery, the SNCCs/sulfur composite with a sulfur mass loading of 70 wt% exhibits a high average reversible capacity of 1220 and 1116 mA h g^?1 at 0.5C and 1C, respectively, superior rate performance (905 and 605 mAh g^?1 at 5C and 10C, respectively) and excellent cycling stability (capacity fading rate of 0.03% per cycle in 500 cycles). Even at a high sulfur areal loading of 7.3 mg/cm², the SNCCs/0.7S electrode still deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 838 mAh g^?1 and keeps at 730 mAh g^?1 after 100 cycles, corresponding to an extraordinary capacity retention of 87.1%, showing an excellent cyclic stability. The outstanding electrochemical performance is associated with the unique capsule structure with abundant volume, microsized entrance and high conductivity. Our results provides a new strategy to prepare highly stable sulfur-carbon composites for the application in Li-S batteries.