A sulfur-carbon composite from sulfur and carbon aerogel decorated with ultrafine CeO2 nanoparticles has been prepared by a conventional sol-gel strategy as a host material of the sulfur cathodes for lithium sulfur batteries. The physical and electrochemical properties of the prepared composite materials have been evaluated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, N-2 sorption isotherms, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements. Apart from offering flexible confinement function, carbon aerogels decorated with CeO2 are also found to suppress the loss of polysulfide ions. The Ce2-CA/S cathode with Ce/C molar ratio of 0.0233 delivers high initial discharge capacity of 1381 mAh g (1) at 0.2 C and remains 1127.6 mAh g (1) after 100 cycles. The sulfur electrodes have excellent rate performance with initial discharge capacity of 768.5 mAh g (1) at 5 C. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.