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A microwave-assisted hydrothermal approach with a follow up thermal treatment was employed to prepare 1D porous CoO nanowires, which is constructed by numerous high crystallinity nanoparticles. A significant change in crystal structure of the precursor were observed, as position shift and absence of some diffraction peaks, which was induced by the microwave-assistance during hydrothermal process. Moreover, the precursor's purity was also effectively improved. As a result, the as-synthesized CoO annealed from the microwave-assisted precursor exhibited a morphology and phase structure significantly different from that of without microwave involvement. Benefiting from the 'microwave effect', the microwave-assisted as-fabricated porous CoO nanowires showed an enhanced specific capacitance (728.8 versus 503.7 Fg−1 at 1 A g−1), strengthened rate performance (70.0% versus 53.2% maintenance at 15 A g−1), reduced charge transfer resistance (1.06 Ω versus 2.39 Ω), enlarged window voltage (0.85 versus 0.7 V) and enhanced cycle performance (82.3% versus 76.5% retention after 5000 cycles at 15 A g−1), compared with that of sample without microwave assistance. In addition, the corresponding electrochemical properties are also higher than those reported CoO sample prepared by solvothermal method. In conclusion, this work provides a practical way for enhancing electrochemical properties of supercapacitor materials through adjusting the precursor by microwave assistance into hydrothermal process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]