We report here for the first time Sn-contained N-rich carbon nanowires, which are prepared via a facile and scalable procedure using poly-pyrrole as the carbon source. As-obtained nanowires with a diameter of about 50 nm crosslink with each other with enough void space, beneficial to accommodating lithiation induced volumetric change and mechanical stress. In particular, this product contains abundant nitrogen (9.8 wt.%), favorable for Li+ diffusion and storage. It therefore exhibits excellent cycling stability of 682.6 and 760.1 mAhg(-1) at 500 mAg(-1) after 200 and 600 cycles, respectively. It also delivers great high rate performance even at 10 Ag-1. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.