Synthesis of porous AMn2O4 (A = Zn, Zn0.5Co0.5, Co) microspheres and their comparative lithium storage performances

Porous AMn2O4 (A = Zn, Zn0.5Co0.5, Co) microspheres have been prepared through a carbonate co-precipitation and subsequent heat treatment at 600 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images reveal that, the porous AMn2O4 microspheres with hausmannite (Mn3O4) structure are composed of well-defined primary nanoparticles, and these nanoparticles have the size of 30–100 nm. As lithium-ion battery anodes, the electrochemical properties of porous AMn2O4 microspheres are determined by their chemical compositions. The porous ZnMn2O4 microspheres can retain a discharge capacity of 698.8 mAh g− 1 after 50 charge–discharge cycles, which is much better than the other two oxides. The CoMn2O4 shows the highest discharge potential among three samples. Interestingly, the Zn0.5Co0.5Mn2O4 inherits the shortage of CoMn2O4 and ZnMn2O4, and its cycling stability is the worst.