Unravelling the Secret of Sulfur Confinement and High Sulfur Utilization in Hybrid Sulfur‐Carbons (Adv. Mater. 34/2026)

Hybrid Sulfur-Carbons The cover image illustrates a collapsed, hierarchically porous carbon architecture that imposes both chemical and kinetic confinement on sulfur species in a sodium-sulfur composite cathode. Short sulfur chains are stabilized within interconnected pore compartments, where interfacial anchoring at carbon defect sites and constricted pore necks suppress sulfur migration and mitigate shuttle effects. The spatially heterogeneous pore network gives rise to diffusion-limited Na+ transport, with ion accessibility decreasing toward the interior, highlighting the role of pore hierarchy and structural asymmetry in regulating electrochemical conversion. This combined confinement strategy enables near-quantitative sulfur utilization and state-of-the-art electrochemical performance in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries. More details can be found in the Research Article by Evgeny Senokos and co-workers (DOI: 10.1002/adma.202513346).