The Sn-embedded MgO 1D nanostructures with different Sn core morphologies depending on the substrate temperature were synthesized by a single thermal evaporation process without a subsequent annealing process. The morphology of the Sn core exhibited the following changes with increasing temperature: from a continuous line to a peapod-like chain via a discrete line. The as-synthesized MgO nanorods showed an emission band at similar to 610 nm in the orange region, whereas the Sn-MgO composite nanorods grown at 600-900 degrees C showed an emission band at similar to 490 nm in the blue region. The emission intensity tended to increase rapidly with increasing substrate temperature. The intensity of emission from the Sn-peapodded nanorods grown at 900 degrees C was more than six times higher than that of the Sn-core/MgO-shell nanorods with a continuous linear shaped-Sn core grown at 600 degrees C. On the other hand, the enhanced blue emission from the Sn-peapodded nanorods originated from the enhanced crystallinity of the MgO nanorods rather than from the surface plasmon resonance of Sn-peapods in the nanorods. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.