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.