Surface potential driven dissolution phenomena of [0Â 0Â 0Â 1]-oriented ZnO nanorods grown from ZnO and Pt seed layers

► ZnO nanorods were hydrothermally synthesized on ZnO and Pt seed layers. ► ZnO nanorods showed the same crystalline structure for both cases. ► Dissolution of ZnO nanorods revealed big differences for both cases. ► Dissolution uniformly on ZnO seed layer, but rod-selectively on Pt seed layer. ► Rod-selective dissolution occurred by the surface potential difference.