The present study described a novel method to prepare ZnO nanoneedles and the thermal oxidation behavior of the zinc nanoparticles with and without H2O2 pre-oxidation. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and XRD were performed to characterize the nanostructures. H2O2 could oxidize a film shell coated on the surface of the zinc core and appropriate coating film shell could supply the source of densest ZnO nanoneedles at the 20 mg ml(-1) ratio of the raw powders to H2O2. The growth of nanoneedles is mainly affected by two factors, one the film thickness, the other zinc content in the core. We can control the growth of nanoneedles via simply controlling the H2O2 concentration. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.