It is important to discover new, cheap and environmental friendly electrode materials with high capacity and good cycling stability for lithium and sodium-ion batteries. Zinc 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate was firstly found to be stable anode materials for lithium and sodium-ion batteries. The discharge capacity can be up to 468.9 mAh g(-1) after 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g(-1) for lithium-ion batteries, while the second discharge capacity of 320.7 mAh g(-1) was achieved as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries. A possible electrochemical reaction mechanism was discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.