A Facile Synthesis of Urchin‐Like ZnMn2O4 Architectures with Enhanced Electrochemical Lithium Storage

As conversion material, ZnMn2O4 has a high theoretical specific capacity as an anode for Lithium‐ion batteries. This paper has designed a facile method to prepare urchin‐like ZnMn2O4 architectures with high quality and well crystallinity. The resultant urchin‐like ZnMn2O4 architectures exhibit high discharge capacity and excellent cycling stability. The initial discharge capacity of urchin‐like ZnMn2O4 architectures is 1167 mAh g−1 at 0.4 A g−1 and the electrode materials could maintain high reversible capacity of 889 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles. Even in the high current density of 1 A g−1, the electrode of urchin‐like ZnMn2O4 can keep a high reversible capacity of 578 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles. The improved electrochemical performance can be ascribed to the urchin‐like architectures of the as‐prepared ZnMn2O4, which could be conducive to the transmission of lithium ions and electrons and provide sufficient void spaces to tolerate the volume change during the Li+ intercalation. These results revealed that as‐prepared urchin‐like ZnMn2O4 architectures would be a promising anode for high performance Lithium‐ion batteries. This work reported a facile synthetic methodology for ZnMn2O4 hierarchical architectures with urchin‐like structure. As anode materials for Lithium‐ion batteries, the as‐prepared ZnMn2O4 electrodes showed high reversible capacity (889 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles at current density of 0.4 A g−1), excellent rate capability, and long cycling (578 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at current density of 1 A g−1). The urchin‐like ZnMn2O4 architectures would be a promising anode with high performances for Lithium‐ion batteries.