A facile urea-assisted template-free, surfactant-less chemical co-precipitation method was used to obtain a flower-like cobalt oxide sample followed by annealing at various temperatures of 400, 500, and 600 C for 2 h. The obtained flower-like morphology was assembled by nanorods, and the nanorods were comprised of interconnected particles with a porous structure. The changes in the surface area of the obtained flower-like Co3O4 samples were systematically examined at various temperatures and their impact on the electrochemical performances was observed. Electrochemical investigation showed that the flower-like Co3O4 samples obtained at 500 C, showed excellent cycling stability (1536.9 mA h g(-1) at 0.1 C up to 50 cycles and 1226.9 mA h g(-1) at 0.5 C up to 350 cycles) and superior rate capability (845 mA h g(-1) at 10 C). It is believed that the porous nature of the unique structure facilitates the penetration of the electrolyte at the electrode/electrolyte interface and provides a large space for strain buffering, which ultimately allows the present sample to achieve high rate performances. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.