An efficient method is demonstrated to synthesize reduced graphene oxide/Co nanowires (rGO/CoO) mutually-supporting porous structure, which is in situ prepared by annealing self-assembled graphene oxide (GO)/Co(CO3)(0.5)(OH).0.11H(2)O nanowires composite in N-2 atmosphere. The CoO nanowires are uniformly and tightly anchored on the rGO sheet surface, preventing the aggregation of the CoO nanowires and the restacking of rGO sheets. As an anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), rGO/CoO electrode displays excellent electrochemical performance including a high reversible capacity of 994 mA h g (1) even after 100 cycles with 96.3% capacity retention of the initial discharge capacity, super rate capability (718, 577, 504, 388 and 262 mA hg (1) 0.8, 3.2, 5, 7 and 10C, respectively,1C = 1 A g (1)) and extremely excellent cycling performance at high rates (621 mA h g I at 1C after 620 cycles; 520 mA h g (1) at 3C even after 750 cycles). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.