In this paper the effect of indium dopants on structure, optical, electrical and mechanical properties of ZnO nanorods are studied. The average surface potentials and the surface currents of ZnO:In nanorods were 0.25-0.84 mV and 2.2-200 M Omega-cm, respectively. The turn-on threshold field for the vertical ZnO nanorods was around 2-16 V mu m(-1). Emission current densities of 3.3-911.4 mA cm(-2) were obtained for an electrical field of 60-160 V mu m(-1). The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum measured at 15-300 K showed that the intensity of the peak at 2.06 eV increased with decreasing temperature, while the peak at 2.06 eV further red shifted and the peak at 3.39 eV blue shifted. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.