Synthesis of gallic acid capped ZnSe transparent nanorods

•Synthesized gallic acid capped ZnSe transparent nanorods in aqueous media.•Gallic acid played a vital role in the formation of ZnSe transparent nanorods.•Quantum confinement and enhanced luminescence property have been demonstrated.

Zinc selenide (ZnSe) transparent nanorods have been synthesized using gallic acid, a natural organic matter (NOM), as a capping agent using a simple wet chemical reaction method. The structure and morphology of ZnSe transparent nanorods have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SEM and TEM images reveal the formation and the transparent nature of rod like nanostructures. The hexagonal wurtzite structure has been predicted from XRD results. Strong “blue shift” absorption and the enhanced luminescence property with respect to bulk have been observed from UV–vis spectrophotometry and photoluminescence spectrophotometry.