Research progress in hollow nanocomposite materials for lithium-sulfur batteries cathodes

The rapid growth in demand for high energy density electrochemical energy storage devices has stimulated the research community to develop novel battery systems beyond traditional Li-ion systems, to break through the limitations of energy and power densities. Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are considered to be one of the most promising batteries due to their high energy densities. However, severe problems have restricted their development during the progress of LSBs, including the poor conductivity of sulfur, the volume expansion during discharge, and the shuttle effect caused by polysulfides. Relevant studies have shown that hollow nanocomposites can alleviate the above-mentioned problems when used as cathode carriers for LSBs, attribute to versatile advantages of large specific surface area, adjustable pore structure, and controllable morphology. Therefore, an increasing number of researchers have conducted extensive research on the synthesis and applications of hollow nanocomposites. In this paper, we reviewed the synthesis methods, microstructure, and electrochemical properties of hollow nanoboxes, nanospheres, nanotubes, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) dodecahedron nanostructures used as cathode materials for LSBs, and discussed the main factors affecting the performance of LSBs and its future development.