We investigated the effects of the curing temperature on physical properties of hydrothermal synthesized yttrium-doped ZnO (YZO) nanorods. Compared to the as-grown sample, the c-axis preference (i.e., the peak intensity of x-ray diffraction at the (002) Bragg angle) was much enhanced after curing in vacuum at 200 degrees C. In addition, 200-degrees C-cured YZO nanorods showed a significant decrease in the number of metastable oxygen bonds. These resulted in both the increase in ultra-violet emission and the decrease in oxygen-related deep-level emission. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.