The influence of sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDSN) on the formation of ZnO nanorods fromε-Zn(OH)2was investigated in this paper. Theε-Zn(OH)2precursor was prepared at room temperature using ZnSO4and NaOH as the reactants and then converted to ZnO nanorods after aging at 80°C in NaOH solution containing a minor amount of sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDSN). The experimental results and the molecular simulation revealed that the influence of SDSN on the formation of ZnO fromε-Zn(OH)2should be

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... to the adsorption of SDSN onε-Zn(OH)2surfaces, which inhibited the dissolution ofε-Zn(OH)2in NaOH solution, leading to the formation of the ZnO nanorods with a diameter of 50–200 nm, a length of 3.0–15.0 μm, and an aspect ratio of 30–100.