A cathode for high-rate performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been developed from a crystal habit-tuned nano plate Li(Li0.17Ni0.25Mn0.58)O-2 material, in which the proportion of (010) nanoplates has been significantly increased. The results demonstrate that the fraction of the surface that is electrochemically active for Li+ transportation is a key criterion for evaluating the different nanostructures of potential LIB materials.