A new preparation method has been successfully utilized for the fabrication of zinc oxide nanoparticles using the auto-combustion technique and fuels (tartaric acid: TA, citric acid: CA and a mix between them) with molar ratio (Zn: TA; Zn: CA and Zn: CA: CA= 1: 1: 0, 1: 0: 0.55 and 1: 0.5: 0.275). The as-fabricated zinc oxide powder (ZTA, ZCA and ZCTA samples) annealed at 500 C. The annealed zinc oxide powder was tested by different techniques like DRS, UV–Vis, FT-IR, HR-TEM and XRD. The Crystallite size of the annealed zinc oxide was estimated to be 24, 39 and 26 nm for ZTA, ZCA and ZCTA samples, respectively. The direct band gap, lattice parameters, unit cell volume (V), the dislocation density (D) and the Zn–O bond length (L) of the prepared zinc oxide powder (ZTA, ZCA and ZCTA samples) were determined. The synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles are used as nanocatalyst for photodegradation of …