Porous NiO fibers prepared by electrospinning as high performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries

► A novel porous NiO fiber material was prepared by a facile and scalable electrospinning method. ► This method uses a carbonized carbon as the self-sacrificing template. ► The electrochemical performance as anode materials for Li-ion batteries is excellent. ► Its reversible capacity is approximately 638 mAh g− 1 over 50 cycles. ► At the current density of 1760 mA g− 1 it still presents a discharge capacity of 477 mAh g− 1.