Porous nanosheet-structured materials have received great attention because of their promising applications in energy field. Construction of porous metal oxides nanosheets on three-dimensional (3D) electro-conductive substrates is an effective way to further enhance electrochemical performance of energy storage devices. Herein, porous transition metal oxides (i.e. ZnO, Co3O4) nanosheets derived from MOFs coated 3D substrates (i.e. 3D nickel foam, carbon fiber) are successfully synthesized by a facile liquid-phase deposition method with subsequent calcination. The growth mechanism of MOFs with nanosheet morphology coated 3D substrates is investigated. As a proof of concept application, the Co3O4/3DNF hybrid, possessing the advantages of porous nanosheet-structured and 3D electro-conductive substrates, is used as a binder-free anode material for lithium-ion battery, which exhibits high-rate capability and long-term cyclic stability. High discharge capacities of 1135, 1268, 1226, 1130, 923, 751, and 543mAhg−1 are obtained at the current densities of 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20Ag−1, respectively. Even measured at 25Ag−1, it still retains a desired discharge capacity of 364mAhg−1. Besides, the long-term cyclic stability up to 2000 cycles can be obtained at 5Ag−1 and 20Ag−1.