One-pot synthesis strategy of sea urchin-like hollow microspheres comprising MoO nanorods attached via N-doped C as anodes for lithium-ion batteries

• A one-pot synthetic strategy for the fabrication of sea urchin-like hollow microspheres was introduced. • The mass production of hierarchically hollow nanostructures was available. • Detailed formation mechanism of the microspheres was investigated. • Synergetic effects of the structure result in efficient diffusion of Li ion and rapid transport of electrons during cycles. • Unique architecture showed excellent Li ion storage properties. A one-pot synthetic strategy that takes only 2.3 s was developed for the fabrication of sea urchin-like hollow microspheres comprising MoO x nanorods attached via N-doped C for the first time. The inclusion of diethylenetriamine as a starting material played a key role in the formation of MoO x nanorods constituting the hollow shell. Additionally, the MoO x nanorods were coated and entangled with N-doped C, which established a rapid pathway for electrons and Li ions during the charge–discharge process when used as anodes for Li-ion batteries. Besides, numerous MoO x nanorods grafted in the shell provided efficient one-dimensional electron transport along the longitudinal direction, enabling more efficient interaction with the Li-ions. Therefore, superior cycling performance was achieved: the nanostructure produced a discharge capacity of 794 mA h g −1 after 400 cycles at 0.2 A g −1 with a low decay rate of 0.074% per cycle. Discharge capacities of 891, 589, 358, 250, and 193 mA h g −1 were obtained at current densities of 0.5, 1.5, 3.0, 5.0, and 7.0 A g −1 , respectively. The facile synthetic strategy to prepare hollow microspheres using spray pyrolysis has important potential for the mass production of hierarchically hollow nanostructures in a wide range of fields, including energy storage.