Transition metal oxide-based anodes suffer from poor rate capability and cyclic stability owing to their low electronic conductivity and large volume change for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Sandwich-type structure based on two-dimensional (2D) graphene (GS) and 2D transition-metal oxide nanosheets could offer many potential advantages in electrochemical energy storage field. In this study, we demonstrate a facile process to fabricate a layer-by-layer assembled 3D hierarchical sandwich-type architecture composed of 2D tungsten trioxide nanoplatelets and graphene (denoted as TTNPs-GS). When evaluated as anode materials, the sandwich-type architecture plays vital roles in endowing high electronic conductivity, accommodating large volume variation and achieving abundant ion transport paths, thus enabling superior lithium-ion storage performance. TTNPs-GS shows a good reversible capacity of 847 mA h g (1) (theoretical capacity of 693 mA h g (1) for tungsten trioxide), high-rate capability (292 mA hg (1) at 3600 mA g (1)) and long cycle life (615 mA hg (1) with 118.9% capacity retention at 1080 mA g (1) after 1000 cycles). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.