The raw material selected for this research was Brazil chestnut shells (BCs), which were utilized to gain porous carbon as a positive electrode for lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). The effects of N/S co-doped on the electrochemical properties of porous carbon materials were studied using thiourea as nitrogen and sulfur sources. The experimental results indicate that the N/S co-doped carbon materials have a higher mesopore ratio than the undoped porous carbon materials. The porous carbon material NSPC-2 has a lotus-like structure with uniform pore distribution. The N and S doping contents are 2.5% and 5.4%. The prepared N/S co-doped porous carbon materials were combined with S, respectively, and three kinds of sulfur carbon composites were obtained. Among them, the composite NSPC-2/S can achieve the initial specific discharge capacity of 1018.6 mAh g− 1 at 0.2 C rate. At 1 C rate, the initial discharge capacity of the material is 730.6 mAh g− 1, and the coulomb efficiency is 98.6% and the capacity retention rate is 71.5% after 400 charge–discharge cycles.