High performance porous MnO@C composite anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

• Porous MnO@C composite was prepared by sintering the mixture of MnC2O4 and glucose.
• MnO@C composite exhibits high specific capacity and excellent rate capability as Li-ion battery anodes.
• The excellent electrochemical performance can be ascribed to porous structure, good crystallinity and proper amount of carbon coating.
• This facile method can be applied to synthesis of other transition metal oxide@carbon electrode materials.

MnC2O4 precursor was prepared by a precipitation method, and then porous MnO@C composites were obtained by mixing MnC2O4 precursor with different amounts of glucose and sintering at different temperatures. The influences of carbon content and crystallinity on the electrochemical performance of MnO@C were investigated. Galvanostatic charge–discharge test results showed that the MnO@C sample “1.2,700” has the largest specific capacity among all samples, which can reach high specific discharge capacity of 1691 mAh g−1 at the current density of 100 mA g−1 after 200 cycles. Even at the high current density of 1600 mA g−1, a remarkable discharge capacity of ∼630 mAh g−1 can still be delivered, demonstrating a good rate capability. The excellent electrochemical performance can be ascribed to porous structure, good crystallinity and proper amount of carbon coating. This facile method can be applied to the large-scale synthesis of high performance transition metal oxide@carbon composite electrode materials.