Fabricating hierarchical porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres as high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries

• Porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres simply fabricated by calcining Prussian Blue Analogue.
• ZnCo2O4 microspheres have an amount of mesopores and macropores.
• Porous ZnCo2O4 microsphere exhibited excellent electrochemical performances.

Hierarchical porous ZnCo2O4 microspheres were fabricated at different temperatures by using Prussian Blue Analogue (PBA) Zn3[Co(CN)6]2·xH2O as precursor. ZnCo2O4 obtained at 550 °C exhibits the best electrochemical performance, with 1st discharge capacity of 1737.1 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1, and remains at 1051.6 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performances attribute to the porous structure, which facilitates the diffusion of Li+ and the migration of electrons.