Hollow Carbon Nanofibers Filled with MnO2 Nanosheets as Efficient Sulfur Hosts for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract Lithium–sulfur batteries have been investigated as promising electrochemical‐energy storage systems owing to their high theoretical energy density. Sulfur‐based cathodes must not only be highly conductive to enhance the utilization of sulfur, but also effectively confine polysulfides to mitigate their dissolution. A new physical and chemical entrapment strategy is based on a highly efficient sulfur host, namely hollow carbon nanofibers (HCFs) filled with MnO 2 nanosheets. Benefiting from both the HCFs and birnessite‐type MnO 2 nanosheets, the MnO 2 @HCF hybrid host not only facilitates electron and ion transfer during the redox reactions, but also efficiently prevents polysulfide dissolution. With a high sulfur content of 71 wt % in the composite and an areal sulfur mass loading of 3.5 mg cm −2 in the electrode, the MnO 2 @HCF/S electrode delivered a specific capacity of 1161 mAh g −1 (4.1 mAh cm −2 ) at 0.05 C and maintained a stable cycling performance at 0.5 C over 300 cycles.