Novel mesoporous carbon materials (MCMs) with excellent electron conductivity and high surface area are successfully synthesized from waste litchi shells. The as-prepared MCMs possess a narrow pore size distribution (0.5-2.0 nm) and exhibit similar electron conductivities to conductive carbon black (Super P, Timcal). Because of the unique properties of MCMs, they are used as host matrixes to encapsulate sulfur for lithium-sulfur cathodes. The obtained MCMs-sulfur (MCMs-S) composite cathodes deliver a high initial specific capacity of 1667 mAh g(-1). Moreover, 300 degrees C treated MCMs-S composite cathode shows a more stable discharge capacity than the untreated MCMs-S composite cathode, it remains 612 mAh g(-1) after 200 cycles at a high current density of 0.5 C. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.