Synthesis of high surface area ZnO powder was achieved by continuous precipitation using zinc ions and urea at low temperature of 90 degrees C. The powder precipitated resulted in high-purity single-phase ZnO powder when calcined at 280 degrees C for 3 h in air. The solution pH and the precipitation duration strongly affected the surface area of the calcined ZnO powder. Detailed structural characterizations demonstrated that the synthesized ZnO powder were single crystalline with wurtzite hexagonal phase. The powdered samples precipitated by homogeneous precipitation crystallized directly to hydrozincite without any intermediate phase formation. The phase structures, morphologies and properties of the final ZnO powders were investigated by Xray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering particle size analysis (DLS), and nitrogen physisorption in order to determine the specific surface area (BET) and the pore size distribution (BJH). (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.