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.