Herein, the rational design and synthesis of manganese oxides (MnO₂ and MnO) have been achieved and both of them show petal-like microsphere structures. As anodes for LIBs, MnO exhibits a higher capacity of 751.4 mA h g⁻¹ after 400 cycles (492.7 mA h g⁻¹ for MnO₂ after 300 cycles) at 2000 mA g⁻¹.