A mixture of crystalline Co 3 O 4 /CoO nanorods with non-uniform dense distribution has been successfully synthesized by microwave hydrothermal technique. The synthesized nanorods have been characterized by several techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results showed that the as synthesized specimens contained mixed crystalline Co 3 O 4 /CoO nanorods with an average length of around 80nm and an average diameter of 42nm. UV–Vis spectrum of the nanorods exhibited a strong UV emission. The band energy gap of the product was 1.79eV which lies between the energy gap of CoO and that for Co 3 O 4 . The obtained carrier concentration is of the order 4.32×10 27 m −3 and the dielectric constant is found to be 4.89. The electrical conductivity increases with increasing temperature and behaves as a semiconducting material with an activation energy of a bout 0.26eV. This makes the as synthesized mixed Co 3 O 4 /CoO nanorods very useful for supercapacitor devices application. Magnetic hysteresis loops at room temperature of the as synthesized mixed oxides (Co 3 O 4 /CoO) nanorods exhibit typical soft magnetic behavior.