The fabrication of β-CoV 3 O 8 nanorods embedded in graphene sheets and their application as electrochemical charge storage electrodes is reported. From the surfactant treatment of raw graphite, graphene was directly prepared and its nanocomposite with β-CoV 3 O 8 nanorods distributed between graphene layers (β-CoV 3 O 8-G) was synthesized by a hydrothermal method. When applied as an anode in lithium-ion batteries, the β-CoV 3 O 8-G anode exhibits greatly improved charge and discharge capacities of 790 and 627 mAh centerdot g− 1, respectively, with unexpectedly high initial efficiency of 82%. The observed discharge capacity reflected that at least 3.7 mol of Li+ is selectively accumulated within the β-CoV 3 O 8 phase (Li x CoV 3 O 8, x> 3.7), indicative of significantly improved Li+ uptake when compared with aggregated β-CoV 3 O 8 nanorods. Moreover, very distinct peak plateaus and greatly …​