AbstractPure and manganese doped zinc hydroxicarbonate are precursors for materials based on zinc oxide with electrical and luminescent properties. This paper reports on investigation of the effect of chloride and sulfate anions in the morphology of pure and doped precursors obtained by aging diluted zinc salt solutions in presence of urea, and their thermally decomposed products Characterization was carried out by XRI), IR and SEM techniques. Hydrozincite Zn₅(OH)₆(CO₃)₂ and zincite ZnO with spherical shaped particles of 5–10 ptm were obtained independent of anion used Moreover, in a chloride medium the spheres are organized in an arrangement of acicularly crystallized units as spherulitic aggregates, and in sulfate medium porous spherical particles were observed In addition, there is a good topotaxic relationship between the precursor and oxide