Porous ZnMn2O4 hollow microrods: Facile construction and excellent electrochemical performances for lithium ion batteries

[Display omitted] •Porous ZnMn2O4 hollow microrods have been constructed with the assistance of SDS.•A plausible morphology evolution mechanism for Zn1/3Mn2/3C2O4·2H2O precursors was proposed.•Porous ZnMn2O4 hollow microrods exhibit outstanding electrochemical performances. Porous ZnMn2O4 hollow microrods have been constructed through a facile co-precipitation method followed by an annealing process. The plausible formation mechanism for the unique architecture of ZnMn2O4 microrods was proposed and discussed in detail. It is found that the calcination temperature plays a key role in determining the microstructures of ZnMn2O4. On the whole, 700 °C is the optimal temperature, which not only makes the as-constructed ZnMn2O4 microrods (denoted as ZMO-700) the porous and hollow architecture, but also owns a good crystallinity, high porosity and large specific surface area. When used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the ZMO-700 exhibits outstanding electrochemical performances. It both possesses a high reversible capacity of 902 mAh g−1 after 320 cycles at 0.5 C, and presents an excellent rate capability in the current rate region of 0.1–5 C, especially deliveries a high capacity of 223 mAh g−1 at 5 C. The significant enhancement in the electrochemical performances should be attributed to the synergistic effect of the porous hollow architecture and the micro-nano hierarchical structure for the as-constructed ZnMn2O4 anode.