Nanoscale MnO mildly expanded graphite (MnO/MEG) composites were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method combined with a subsequent self-reduction process using MEG as the raw material. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of this novel MnO/MEG composite were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, galvanostatic charge/discharge tests, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. MnO/MEG exhibits excellent electrochemical performance for which the reversible capacity is as high as 931 mAh g(-1) at 0.3 C after 450 cycles, which can be attributed to nanoscale MnO on MEG and self-developed graphene during the charge/discharge process. (C) The Author(s) 2016. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All rights reserved.