Well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays have been grown on metal-plated polymer fiber via a mild wet process in a newly-designed continuous reactor, aiming to provide wire-shaped photoanodes for wearable dye sensitized solar cells. The growth conditions were systematically optimized with the help of computational flow-field simulation. The flow field in the reactor will not only affect the morphology of the ZnO nanorod \ nanowire but also affect the pattern distribution of nanoarray on the electrode surface. Unlike the sectional structure from the traditional batch-type reactor, ZnO nanorods with finely controlled length and uniform morphology could be grown from the continuous reactor. After optimization, the wire-shaped ZnO-type photoanode grown from the continuous reactor exhibited better photovoltaic performance than that from the traditional batch-type reactor. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.