A kind of coral-like porous MnO2 nanostructure film has been formed on stainless steel using a facile ZnO-nanorod-array-mediated technique by a hydrothermal method. Thus-constructed electrode materials for supercapacitors exhibit a high specific capacitance of 221 F g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1) and excellent cycle ability with 86% retention after 3000 cycles at 5 A g(-1). The excellent electrochemical performance of the electrode materials is considered to be originated from the porous and hierarchical three-dimensional MnO2 nanostructure on the conductive stainless steel substrate. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.