Danhua Ge,^a   Hongbo Geng,^a   Jiaqing Wang,^a   Junwei Zheng,^b   Yue Pan,^a   Xueqin Cao*^a (曹雪琴) and   Hongwei Gu*^a  （顾宏伟）

^a Key Laboratory of Organic Synthesis of Jiangsu Province, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China

^b Institute of Chemical Power Sources, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China

Nanoscale 2014, 6, 9689-9694

A simple and scalable coordination-derived method for the synthesis of porous Co₃O₄ hollow nanospheres is described here. The initially formed coordination-driven self-assembled aggregates (CDSAAs) could act as the precursor followed by calcination treatment. Then the porous hollow Co₃O₄ nanospheres are obtained, in which the primary Co₃O₄ nanoparticles are inter-dispersed. When the nanospheres are used as anode materials for lithium storage, they show excellent coulombic efficiency, high lithium storage capacity and superior cycling performance. In view of the facile synthesis and excellent electrochemical performance obtained, this protocol to fabricate special porous hollow frameworks could be further extended to other metal oxides and is expected to improve the practicality of superior cycle life anode materials with large volume excursions for the development of the next generation of LIBs.