Metal–Organic Framework‐Derived Ultrafine ZnO/Co3ZnC Particles Embedded in N‐Doped Carbon Concave‐Dodecahedron Towards Enhanced Lithium Storage

Abstract Transition metal oxides (TMOs) are potential anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their superior theoretical capacities, environmental benignity and abundant supply. However, because of the intrinsically poor conductivity, inevitable volume variation, inferior capacity and cyclic stability, the progress of TMOs in practical application is seriously hindered. In this study, a new N‐doped carbon concave‐dodecahedron has been successfully manufactured through a facile method utilizing bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZnCo‐ZIF) as both precursor and sacrificial template, in which ultrafine ZnO/Co 3 ZnC nanoparticles uniformly distributed on the surface can provide additional active sites to effectively accelerate the diffusion of lithium ions. As a result, the as‐prepared ZnO/Co 3 ZnC/C (ZCC) anode exhibits outstanding mechanical tolerance during lithiation process. Attributed to the superior structure and compositional optimization, the ZCC anode achieves remarkable electrochemical performance with considerable high‐rate capacity (424 mAh g −1 at 2.0 A g −1 ) and ultralong cyclability (942 mAh g −1 at 0.2 A g −1 after 300 cycles).