The natural abundance and environmental benignity of sulfur further endow Li–S batteries with low-cost and green features. The porous structure materials derived from biomass used as sulfur carriers also possess these advantages, making them highly appealing for future high-energy applications. Herein, we utilized chestnut shell carbon (CSC), an inexpensive and readily available agricultural waste, to create a honeycomb-like hierarchical porous carbon for hosting sulfur and a polyacrylonitrile-based graphite fiber (PAN-GF) current collector (CC) to produce an electrode with high areal sulfur loading (10.1 mg cm⁻²). The CSC@S with aluminum foil CC also exhibited an initial discharge capacity of 1537.7 mAh g⁻¹, with a capacity retention of 70.0% after 100 cycles. The PAN-GF based cathode also could achieve a capacity of over 8.22 mAh cm⁻² and a volumetric energy density of 366.8 Wh L⁻¹. Beyond conventional aluminum foil coating strategies, this hierarchical porous carbon-embedded fiber structure offers a feasible and cost-effective approach for advancing the development of high-areal sulfur loading electrodes in lithium–sulfur batteries.

Hierarchical NiO-SnO₂ nanoflowers were prepared via a one-step hydrothermal method. The morphology, structure and components of the hierarchical NiO-SnO₂ nanoflowers were examined via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The ethanol gas-sensing performance was systematically analyzed between pure hierarchical SnO₂ nanoflowers and the hierarchical NiO-SnO₂ nanoflowers. The results indicated that the hierarchical NiO-SnO₂ nanoflowers showed better gas-sensing properties than the pure hierarchical SnO₂ nanoflowers at 164 °C. The enhanced gas-sensing performance was ascribed to the formation of p-n heterojunctions between p-type NiO and n-type SnO₂. Additionally, NiO has a catalytic role. Therefore, hierarchical NiO-SnO₂ nanoflowers could be a potential gas-sensing material for the fabrication of high-quality ethanol gas sensors.

Flame-retardant SA/PMM separators are electrospun for Li–S cells. PVA builds stable fiber networks. Alginate suppresses MXene stacking and provides flame resistance. Ti ₃ C ₂ MXene improves conductivity, speeds Li ⁺ transfer and immobilizes polysulfides.