Porous ZnMn2O4 hollow microrods: Facile construction and excellent electrochemical performances for lithium ion batteries

• Porous ZnMn 2 O 4 hollow microrods have been constructed with the assistance of SDS. • A plausible morphology evolution mechanism for Zn 1/3 Mn 2/3 C 2 O 4 ·2H 2 O precursors was proposed. • Porous ZnMn 2 O 4 hollow microrods exhibit outstanding electrochemical performances. Porous ZnMn 2 O 4 hollow microrods have been constructed through a facile co-precipitation method followed by an annealing process. The plausible formation mechanism for the unique architecture of ZnMn 2 O 4 microrods was proposed and discussed in detail. It is found that the calcination temperature plays a key role in determining the microstructures of ZnMn 2 O 4 . On the whole, 700 °C is the optimal temperature, which not only makes the as-constructed ZnMn 2 O 4 microrods (denoted as ZMO-700) the porous and hollow architecture, but also owns a good crystallinity, high porosity and large specific surface area. When used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the ZMO-700 exhibits outstanding electrochemical performances. It both possesses a high reversible capacity of 902 mAh g −1 after 320 cycles at 0.5 C, and presents an excellent rate capability in the current rate region of 0.1–5 C, especially deliveries a high capacity of 223 mAh g −1 at 5 C. The significant enhancement in the electrochemical performances should be attributed to the synergistic effect of the porous hollow architecture and the micro-nano hierarchical structure for the as-constructed ZnMn 2 O 4 anode.