Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) hold great potential for large-scale electrochemical energy storage applications. Currently, the shuttle of soluble lithium polysulfide (LiPSs) intermediates with sluggish conversion kinetics and random deposition of Li₂S have severely degraded the capacity, rate and cycling performances of LSBs, preventing their practical applications. In this work, ultrathin MoSe₂ nanosheets with active edge sites were successfully grown on both internal and external surfaces of hollow carbon spheres with mesoporous walls (MCHS). The resulting MoSe₂@MCHS composite acted as a novel functional reservoir for LiPSs with high chemical affinity and effectively mediated their fast redox conversion during charge/discharge as elucidated by experimental observations and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The as-fabricated Li-S cells delivered high capacity, superior rate and excellent cyclability. The current work presents new insights on the delicate design and fabrication of novel functional composite electrode materials for rechargeable batteries with emerging applications.

锂硫电池（LSB）在大规模电化学储能应用中具有巨大潜力。当前，具有低的转化动力学和Li ₂ S的随机沉积的可溶性多硫化锂（LiPSs）中间体的穿梭严重降低了LSB的容量，速率和循环性能，从而阻碍了它们的实际应用。在这项工作中，具有活性边缘位点的超薄MoSe ₂纳米片成功地在具有中孔壁（MCHS）的中空碳球的内外表面上生长。生成的MoSe ₂@MCHS复合材料充当具有高化学亲和力的LiPS的新型功能储存库，并通过实验观察和第一原理密度泛函理论（DFT）计算阐明了其在充电/放电过程中有效介导了它们的快速氧化还原转化。制成的Li-S电池具有高容量，高效率和出色的可循环性。当前的工作提出了对新兴应用中用于可充电电池的新型功能性复合电极材料的精细设计和制造的新见解。