In this work, different interior structures of ZnCo2O4 microspheres have been fabricated by a hydrothermal method followed by a calcination process at various temperature ramp rates. When evaluated as anode materials in lithium-ion half cells, the core-shell microspheres showed high electrochemical performance with a first discharge specific capacity of 1280mAh/g at 200mA/g and demonstrated excellent cycling stability with only 3.9% capacity loss between the second and the fiftieth cycles at 400mA/g.