A simple route involving the reaction between zinc powder and water under controlled pH and temperature was used to prepare ZnO nanorods (see Panchakarla et al.). Zinc oxide nanoparticles were prepared also using sol–gel method starting from zinc acetate precursor (as per Zang et al.). Thin films were prepare from both nanorods and nanoparticles by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) in aqueous media (see Dogan et al., Wang et al., Lommens et al., Tang et al. and Besra et al.). To have a uniform microstructure in the deposited films, the aqueous suspension was stabilized using an anionic surfactant. The effect of voltage and pH on the rate of electrophoretic deposition from nano zinc oxide colloid was studied in detail. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and UV-Vis Spectroscopy were used to characterize Zno thin films after sintering.