Hierarchical porous carbon (HPC, DUT‐106) with tailored pore structure is synthesized using a versatile approach based on ZnO nanoparticles avoiding limitations present in conventional silica hard templating approaches. The benefit of the process presented here is the removal of all pore building components by pyrolysis of the ZnO/carbon composite without any need for either toxic/reactive gases or purification of the as‐prepared hierarchical porous carbon. The carbothermal reduction process is accompanied by an advantageous growing of distinctive micropores within the thin carbon walls. The resulting materials show not only high internal porosity (total pore volume up to 3.9 cm3 g−1) but also a large number of electrochemical reaction sites due to their remarkably high specific surface area (up to 3060 m2 g−1), which renders them particularly suitable for the application as sulfur host material. Applied in the lithium‐sulfur battery, the HPC/sulfur composite exhibits a capacity of >1200 mAh g−1‐sulfur (>750 mAh g−1 electrode) at a high sulfur loading of ≥ 3 mg cm−2 as well as outstanding rate capability. In fact, this impressive performance is achieved even using a low amount of electrolyte (6.8 μl mg−1 sulfur) allowing for further weight reduction and maintenance of high energy density on cell level.

A carbide-derived carbon with hierarchical pore structure, large pore volume and high surface area was applied as a rigid, conductive scaffold for sulfur conversion. Full cell tests revealed high performance and reversible cycling over 4100 cycles.

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The performance of secondary batteries, of which the lithium‐ion battery is one of the most well known, depends not only on the active electrode materials but also on the electrode architecture. In particular, the reduction in electrode tortuosity is expected to enable batteries with high active material utilization and fast charging and discharging capabilities. Herein, it is shown how electrophoretic deposition can be used to produce electrodes comprising hybrid particles of cobalt(II,III) oxide‐coated rutile‐mica oriented in an out‐of‐plane fashion. Key to this process is a sacrificial anode which leads to charging of the flake‐shaped particles and formation of a holding layer cementing them perpendicular to the substrate. Moreover, the electrochemical performance of lithium‐ion battery anodes with out‐of‐plane and in‐plane oriented architectures is compared. The out‐of‐plane orientation of the flake‐like particles results in better utilization of active material, lower charge‐transfer impedance, and faster ion diffusion. Moreover, for a range of charge/discharge rates, the specific capacity is over three times higher in comparison to an electrode with the same material oriented in an in‐plane architecture. The approach to electrode structuring is both facile and scalable and can be readily applied in the future to produce other electrochemical energy storage device electrodes.