Optical and electrical properties of ZnO:Al powders prepared in a continuous and one-step micro drop fluidized reactor were investigated. The shift of main peaks in XRD patterns and crystallite size of ZnO:Al powders increased with increasing flow rate of micro bubbles (U-MB), indicating that the fluidization of micro drops during the formation of powders could help the doping of Al3+ ions into the lattice of ZnO. The band gap energy of ZnO:Al powders became narrow by forming the extrinsic donor levels to the conduction band more easily, with increasing UMB. The surface morphology of ZnO:Al powders became more wrinkled and furrowed with increasing UMB, due to the increase of micro shear force and strain acting on the surface of ZnO:Al during the formation in the fluidization field of the reactor. The room temperature photoluminescence indicated that the doping effects of as-prepared ZnO:Al powders were getting better with increasing UMB. The electrical resistivity of ZnO:Al decreased considerably due to the active generation of extra free electrons at the surface of the powder, with increasing UMB. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.