We present the formation of a carbon-coated honeycomb ternary Ni-Mn-Co-O inverse opal as a
conversion mode anode material for Li-ion battery applications. In order to obtain high capacity via
conversion mode reactions, a single phase crystalline honeycombed IO structure of Ni-Mn-Co-O
material was first formed. This Ni-Mn-Co-O IO converts via reversible redox reactions and Li
2
O
formation to a 3D structured matrix assembly of nanoparticles of three (MnO, CoO and NiO) oxides,
that facilitates efficient reactions with Li. A carbon coating maintains the structure without clogging
the open-worked IO pore morphology for electrolyte penetration and mass transport of products during
cycling. The highly porous IO was compared in a Li-ion half-cell to nanoparticles of the same material
and showed significant improvement in specific capacity and capacity retention. Further optimization of
the system was investigated by incorporating a vinylene carbonate additive into the electrolyte solution
which boosted performance, offering promising high-rate performance and good capacity retention
over extended cycling. The analysis confirms the possibility of creating a ternary transition metal oxide
material with binder free accessible open-worked structure to allow three conversion mode oxides to
efficiently cycle as an anode material for Li-ion battery applications.