Hierarchical Porous ZnMn2O4 Hollow Nanotubes with Enhanced Lithium Storage toward Lithium-Ion Batteries

We have purposefully developed a smart template-engaged methodology to efficiently fabricate well-defined ternary spinel ZnMn2O4 hollow nanotubes (NTs). The procedure involves coating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with ZnMn2O4 nanosheets (NSs), followed by heating at high temperature in air to oxidize the CNT template. Physicochemical characterization demonstrated that the formed ZnMn2O4 NTs with a diameter of approximately 100nm were composed of assembled NSs and/or nanoparticles (NPs) as building blocks and possessed numerous nanopores of several nanometers in the sidewall of the NTs. In favor of the intrinsic structural advantages, the resulting ZnMn2O4 NTs exhibited superior electrochemical lithium-storage performance with a large capacity, good rate behavior, and excellent cyclability when evaluated as promising anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The remarkable electrochemical performance was rationally ascribed to the appealing one-dimensional (1D) porous hollow tubular architecture with nanoscale subunits and mesopores in the sidewalls, which decreased the diffusion length for the Li+ ions, improved the kinetic process, and enhanced the structural integrity with sufficient void space to tolerate the volume variation during Li+-ion insertion/extraction. These results highlight the promising application of 1D ZnMn2O4 NTs as anodes for high-performance LIBs.