Synthesis of ZnO nanorods by solid state reaction at room temperature

A novel and simple one-step solid state reaction in the presence of a suitable surfactant, triethanolamine (TEA), has been developed to synthesize uniform zinc oxide nanorods with an average diameter of 20 nm and length of 200 nm. In the absence of TEA the product samples contained nanoparticles. The formation of zinc oxide nanorods depends on the molar ratio of TEA/Zn(II) and also on the experimental procedure.