A novel and facile synthetic approach is developed to prepare the PbO@C nanocomposites by using starch as the carbon precursors. Nearly monodispersive lead oxide nanoparticles embedded carbon nanocomposites are produced via pyrolyzing Pb(NO3)(2) impregnated starch gel under the N-2 atmosphere at 700 degrees C. The PbO nanoparticles are ca. 10 nm in size and slightly changed with the [Pb(NO3)(2):starch] ratios varied. XRD patterns and XPS data reveal the presence of alpha-PbO, orthorhombic beta-PbO and Pb in the nanocomposites without any tetravalent Pb4+ species. When used as anode materials for the lead-acid battery, the nanocomposites exhibit an improved performance. PbO@C nanocomposites prepared from the mixtures with [Pb(NO3)(2):starch] of 70:30, 50:50 and 30:70 exhibited the highest capacity of 205 mA h g(-1), the highest residual capacity of 185 mA h g(-1) and the best cyclic stability after 100 charge/discharge cycles, respectively. (C) 2012 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.