Well-designed nanostructures have been regarded as keys for exploring new electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. In this work, we reported a facile approach to prepare a novel flower-like clusters of Co3O4/C nanosheets via in situ pyrolysis of cheap inorganic-organic layered precursors. The as-prepared sample exhibits a two-dimensional architecture from well-graphitized carbon nanosheets embedded or anchored homogeneously by numerous Co3O4 nanoparticles (5-8 nm). When used as an anode material, the composite displays a high reversible capacity (1082 mAh g (1) at 100 mAg (1)), superior rate capability (531 mAh g (1) at 2000 mAg (1)) and excellent cycling stability. More importantly, a very interesting and amazing microstructural evolution from the lamellar precursors to nanosheets has been unveiled for the first time, which not only manifests the rich in structural variation of inorganic-organic hybrids in pyrolysis process, but also opens up new perspectives on the rational design and controllable fabrication of novel functional materials by utilizing such lamellar hybrids. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.