Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are considered as one of the most potential next‐generation rechargeable batteries due to their high theoretical energy density. However, some critical issues, such as low capacity, poor cycling stability, and safety concerns, must be solved before Li–S batteries can be used practically. During the past decade, tremendous efforts have been devoted to the design and synthesis of electrode materials. Benefiting from their tunable structural parameters, hollow porous carbon materials (HPCM) remarkably enhance the performances of both sulfur cathodes and lithium anodes, promoting the development of high‐performance Li–S batteries. Here, together with the templated synthesis of HPCM, recent progresses of Li–S batteries based on HPCM are reviewed. Several important issues in Li–S batteries, including sulfur loading, polysulfide entrapping, and Li metal protection, are discussed, followed by a summary on recent research on HPCM‐based sulfur cathodes, modified separators, and lithium anodes. After the discussion on emerging technical obstacles toward high‐energy Li–S batteries, prospects for the future directions of HPCM research in the field of Li–S batteries are also proposed.

Designing copper (Cu) current collectors is a convenient way to stabilize lithium (Li) metal anodes. However, Cu current collectors and their derived Li/Cu anodes still face several obstacles, including lithiophobic and oxidizable Cu surface, cumbersome anode fabrication process, and low Li utilization. Here, a formate‐treatment strategy is presented to reconstruct Cu current collectors with a passivation layer covered Cu(110) surface. This method can easily be generalized to increase the lithiophilicity and oxidation resistibility of Cu current collectors. Using the formate‐treated Cu nanowire network as an anode current collector, the full cell consisting of a LiFePO4 cathode and Li/Cu anode with a low negative/positive capacity ratio delivers an excellent cycling performance with 74.8% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 1 C. In addition, a concept of an upper current collector is introduced to simplify the manufacturing procedure of Li/Cu anodes. This work provides new insights into the design and construction of high‐performance Li/Cu anodes.

Room‐temperature sodium‐sulfur (RT‐Na‐S) batteries are attracting increased attention due to their high theoretical energy density and low‐cost. However, the traditional RT‐Na‐S batteries assembled with glass fiber (GF) separators are still hindered by the polysulfide shuttle effect and sodium dendrite growth, limiting the battery's capacity and cycling stability. Here, a facile and effective method toward commercial polyolefin separators for constructing stable RT‐Na‐S batteries is presented. By coating commercial polypropylene membrane with core‐shell structured MXene@C nanosheets, a powerful dual‐functional separator with improved electrolyte wettability that can inhibit polysulfide migration and induce uniform sodium disposition is developed. More importantly, the modified separator can also accelerate the conversion kinetics of sodium polysulfides. Benefiting from these characteristics, the as‐prepared RT‐Na‐S battery exhibits a remarkably enhanced capacity (1159 mAh g‐1 at 0.2 C) and excellent cycling performance (95.8% of capacity retention after 650 cycles at 0.5 C). This study opens a promising avenue for the development of high‐performance Na‐S batteries.