MoP@NC/S cathode with multiple synergistic effect contributes to Li-S battery

•Hollow MoP@NC nanospheres are applied as a new host for Li–S battery.•MoP@NC/S cathode with multiple synergistic mechanism facilitates multiphase sulfur redox reaction kinetics, inhibits polysulfide shuttle and buffers the side effects of volume expansion.•MoP@NC/S cathode shows a surprisingly discharge capacity of 1587 mAh g−1 and stable cycling performance over 1000 cycles at 1 C with low capacity loss of average 0.04% per cycle. Li-S battery is seen as the main technical route in high-energy density storage system because of high specific capacity. There are many challenges including volume expansion, shuttle effect and sluggish kinetics during the electrode reaction. Herein, we construct MoP nanoparticles which are embedded in N-doped carbon hollow nanostructure (MoP@NC) as host with multiple synergistic mechanism to facilitate multiphase sulfur redox reaction kinetics, inhibit polysulfide shuttle and buffer the side effects of volume expansion in Li-S battery. In consequence, MoP@NC/S cathode shows a surprisingly discharge capacity of 1587 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, and a stable long cycle life over 1000 cycles at 1 C with low capacity loss of average 0.04% per cycle. The MoP@NC/S cathode effectively solves the essential problem and further promotes the commercialization of Li-S battery.