Mesoporous spinel Li4Ti5O12 nanoparticles with the diameter of around 40nm and the average pore size of about 8nm were prepared by a rapid microwave-assisted hydrothermal method followed by low-temperature calcination. Electrochemical tests reveal that the Li4Ti5O12 mesoporous nanoparticle electrode exhibits high discharge capacities of 174, 165, 157, 148, 137 and 123mAhg−1 at 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 40C, respectively. The electrode still delivers a capacity of 90mAhg−1 even at the highest rate of 60C (~10,000mAg−1), corresponding to a time of 60s to fully discharge/charge the materials. Moreover, the capacity of the Li4Ti5O12 mesoporous nanoparticle electrode can be completely recovered to 174mAhg−1 when the discharge rate returns to 1C after continuous 10cycles at 60C. This electrode also exhibits outstanding long-term cycling stability with only 1.8% capacity degradation for each 100cycles at 60C, and the electrode is still able to deliver the reversible charge capacities of 95mAhg−1 after 500cycles. These superior electrochemical properties result from its favorable morphology with interconnected nanoparticles and uniform mesoporous, which significantly decreases the contact resistance, shortens the lithium diffusion distances and provides more locations for lithium surface storage.