Facile synthesis of mesoporous Mn3O4 nanorods as a promising anode material for high performance lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

In this work, porous Mn₃O₄ nanorods have been fabricated through the decomposition of MnOOH nanorods under an inert gas. The sample shows a high BET surface area of 27.6 m² g⁻¹ and a narrow pore size distribution of 3.9 nm. Because of the excellent porous geometry and one-dimensional structure, the porous Mn₃O₄ nanorods display outstanding electrochemical performance, such as high specific capacity (901.5 mA h g⁻¹ at a current density of 500 mA g⁻¹), long cycling stability (coulombic efficiency of 99.3% after 150 cycles) and high rate capability (387.5 mA h g⁻¹ at 2000 mA g⁻¹). Very interestingly, the porous Mn₃O₄ nanorods are converted to Mn₃O₄ following electrochemical reaction, which does not occur with nonporous Mn₃O₄ nanorods. The possible reason may be ascribed to the improved kinetics of the porous structure.