Controlled synthesis of hierarchically-structured MnCoO and its potential as a high performance anode material.

To satisfy the upsurging demand for energy storage in modern society, anode materials which can deliver high capacity have been intensively researched for the next generation lithium ion batteries. Typically, the binary MnCoO with a characteristic coupled metal cations showed promising potential due to its high theoretical capacity and low cost. Here, by means of a well-designed synthesis control, we demonstrated a scalable process to achieve a hierarchical structure of MnCoO, which existed as uniform microspheres with embedded mesopores, showing favorable structural characters for high performance during a fast charge/discharge process. Our synthesis highlighted the importance of sodium salicylate as an essential additive to control the precipitation of the two involved metal cations. It was proved that a dual role was played sodium salicylate which cannot only facilitate the formation of microspheric shape, but also act as an effective precursor for the creation of inner mesopores. We confirmed that the hierarchically-structured MnCoO showed outstanding performance when it was tested as an anode material in lithium ion batteries as revealed by its extraordinary cycling stability and high rate capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]