Abstract: Zinc hydroxy carbonate was prepared from zinc dust via ammonia leaching at room temperature，and then ultrafine zinc oxide was obtained by calcination.Influence of different surfactants on the particle size and morphology of products were studied.Results showed that glycol（PEG20000） and poly-vinyl pyrrolidone（PVP-K30） had the best particle dispersion effect.The well-dispersed flake-like amorphous zinc hydroxy carbonate with an average size of 1 μm was obtained in the presence of PEG20000 or PVP-K30.After calcination，ZnO particles were formed，which preserved the shape of the zinc hydroxy carbonate.The particle size of ZnO was about 0.7 μm with hexagonal wurtzite structure.The thermal decomposition temperature of the zinc hydroxy carbonate with PVP-K30 was higher than that with PEG20000.The apparent decomposition activation energies for zinc hydroxy carbonate with PEG and with PVP were139.9 kJ/mol and 146.8 kJ/mol，respectively. 

Key words: zinc dust, zinc hydroxide carbonate, ultrafine zinc oxide, surfactant