Microenvironment Engineering Enables Broad Strategies for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are regarded as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage technologies due to their high energy density, abundant resource availability, and environmental sustainability. However, significant challenges, such as the lithium polysulfides shuttle effect and sluggish redox kinetics, impede their practical application. Microenvironment engineering provides innovative solutions to these issues by precisely controlling the physical and chemical environments of key components within LSBs. Despite the significance of this approach, there is a lack of systematic reviews on its application in the field of LSBs. This review fills the gap by comprehensively summarizing the research progress in microenvironment engineering for LSBs, focusing on four key aspects: 1) structural microenvironment engineering; 2) lithiophilicity microenvironment engineering; 3) sulfiphilicity microenvironment engineering; and 4) lithiophilicity-sulfiphilicity microenvironment engineering. These strategies are analyzed for their role in mitigating the challenges associated with LSBs. Finally, the research directions and the ongoing potential of the microenvironment engineering to drive further progress in this field are proposed for inspiring innovation and accelerating the practical application of LSBs in future.