Synthesis of porous hollow six-branched star-like MnO and its enhanced electrochemical properties as a lithium ion anode material

Novel structured porous hollow six-branched star-like MnO was synthesized via a facile, surfactant-free hydrothermal decomposition, which was followed by high-temperature heat treatment. Compared with the nonporous hollow six-branched star-like MnO2, the porous hollow six-branched star-like MnO realized substantially higher electrochemical performance (844.8 mAh g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1) after 200 cycles and 769.7, 741.7, 728.9, 713.2, and 704.4 mAh g(-1) at 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 A g(-1), respectively, for porous star-like MnO, compared with 338.4 mAh g(-1) and 476.7, 392.4, 357, 303.4, and 269.9, respectively, under the same testing conditions for nonporous star-like MnO2). The superior performance of the porous hollow six-branched star-like MnO is attributed to its enhanced electrode kinetics, which are due to an enlarged active contact area and shortened electron and Li+ conduction paths.