β‐MnO2/Metal–Organic Framework Derived Nanoporous ZnMn2O4 Nanorods as Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes with Superior Lithium‐Storage Performance

Abstract Nanoporous ZnMn 2 O 4 nanorods have been successfully synthesized by calcining β‐MnO 2 /ZIF‐8 precursors (ZIF‐8 is a type of metal–organic framework). If measured as an anode material for lithium‐ion batteries, the ZnMn 2 O 4 nanorods exhibit an initial discharge capacity of 1792 mA h g −1 at 200 mA g −1 , and an excellent reversible capacity of 1399.8 mA h g −1 after 150 cycles (78.1 % retention of the initial discharge capacity). Even at 1000 mA g −1 , the reversible capacity is still as high as 998.7 mA h g −1 after 300 cycles. The remarkable lithium‐storage performance is attributed to the one‐dimensional nanoporous structure. The nanoporous architecture not only allows more lithium ions to be stored, which provides additional interfacial lithium‐storage capacity, but also buffers the volume changes, to a certain degree, during the Li + insertion/extraction process. The results demonstrate that nanoporous ZnMn 2 O 4 nanorods with superior lithium‐storage performance have the potential to be candidates for commercial anode materials in lithium‐ion batteries.