Biomass‐Derived N, O, and S‐Tridoped Hierarchically Porous Carbon as a Cathode for Lithium−Sulfur Batteries

Abstract Restraining soluble polysulfides from diffusing out of the cathode is fundamental to the development of high‐performance lithium−sulfur batteries. The porous architecture and unique physicochemical characteristics of biomass‐derived carbon materials makes it possible to improve the battery performance. Here, two types of porous carbon composites (NOSPC‐1 and NOSPC‐2) with in situ N, S and O tri‐doping are obtained from yam via chemical activation. Structural analysis reveals that NOSPC‐1 presents a highly graphitized interconnected micro‐/mesoporous architecture. As a sulfur host, NOSPC‐1‐800 with 70% sulfur initiates a high reversible discharge capacity of 1556 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.2 C. The cathode further exhibits superior rate performance and long cycle life with 401.2 mAh g⁻¹ reversible capacity and more than 95% coulombic efficiency after 450 cycles at 1 C. Our findings provide meaningful insights toward exploring novel biomass‐derived carbon materials for advanced Li−S batteries.