Non-toxic, cheap, nanostructured ternary transition metal oxide CuFeO2 was synthesised using a simple sol–gel method at different temperatures. The effects of the processing temperature on the particle size and electrochemical performance of the nanostructured CuFeO2 were investigated. The electrochemical results show that the sample synthesised at 650°C shows the best cycling performance, retaining a specific capacity of 475mAhg−1 beyond 100 cycles, with a capacity fading of less than 0.33% per cycle. The electrode also exhibits good rate capability in the range of 0.5C–4C. At the high rate of 4C, the reversible capacity of CuFeO2 is around 170mAhg−1. It is believed that the ternary transition metal oxide CuFeO2 is quite acceptable compared with other high performance nanostructured anode materials.