Multifunctional LaF3 doped pomegranate-like porous carbon nanofibers with high-speed transfer channel and strong polar interface for high stability lithium sulfur battery

[Display omitted] •A novel pomegranate-like porous carbon nanofibers with LaF3 doped (La@PCNFs) is prepared for the first time.•High-speed transfer channel and strong polar interface enhance the electrochemical performance.•The La@PCNFs show high stability for Li-S battery at 5 C. Rational structure designs of cathodes with high electrical conductivity and strong interface adsorption to lithium polysulfide are a huge requirement for lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery. Herein, we report a multifunctional pomegranate-like porous carbon nanofibers with LaF3 doped (La@PCNFs) by electro-blowing spinning technique and subsequent one-step carbonization process for high stability Li-S battery. Interestingly, a number of hollow and mesoporous carbon grains with high graphitization evenly and densely grow inside the macroporous carbon skeleton, which can construct a fast and hierarchical transfer channel and largely enrich the exposed active sites. More importantly, the polar interfaces decorated with active ionic C-F and LaF3 nanocrystal have strong trapping to the lithium polysulfide during cycles. Therefore, the La@PCNFs cathode exhibits a high discharge capacity of 640 mAh·g−1 and a low average capacity decay of 0.05% during 1000 cycles at 5 C, which will shed some lights on the development of other biomimetic materials for various energy conversion and storage systems.