Biomorphic template-engaged strategy towards porous zinc manganate micro-belts as a competitive anode for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries

A sustainable yet massive synthesis of porous micro-/nano-structured spinel mixed metal oxides is highly desirable as advanced anodes for their extensive applications in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this contribution, a self-sacrifice biomorphic template-engaged strategy was purposefully devised for efficient and scalable fabrication of hierarchical porous ZnMn2O4 micro-belts (ZMO-MB). The synthetic procedure mainly involves impregnating natural cotton fibers with Mn2+/Zn2+ ions, followed by sacrificing template over calcination in air. The underlying formation process of the ZMO-MB was rationally put forward with comparative analysis. Physicochemical investigations showed that the well-defined ZMO-MB with hierarchical meso-/macro-porosity was composed of assembled nanoparticle subunits. Taking advantages of intrinsic structural and functional merits, the resultant ZMO-MB with a mass loading of ∼1.2 mg exhibits appealing Li-storage properties with large reversible capacity (∼436 mAh g−1 at 2000 mA g−1), high initial Coulombic efficiency (∼71.2%) and appealing long-duration cyclability at high rates (∼731 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles at 500 mA g−1) when evaluated as a promising anode platform for high-performance LIBs. More encouragingly, we strongly envision that the smart electrode design concept here can be easily for large-scale production and engineering of promising ZMO for next-generation LIBs.