Going into their shell: A novel carbon–sulfur nanocomposite has been synthesized by confining sulfur in double-shelled “soft” carbon hollow spheres (see figure) with high surface area and porosity. This carbon–sulfur nanocomposite shows outstanding electrochemical performance when evaluated as a cathode material for lithium–sulfur batteries. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.