Preparation and visible light photocatalytic activity of Zn1−xFexO nanocrystalline

► Zn1−xFexO nanocrystallines are prepared by precipitation method, and characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and UV-vis diffuses reflectance spectroscopy. ► Zn1−xFexO nanocrystallines show high photocatalytic activities for xanthate degradation at pH 7 under visible light irradiation. ► Zn0.96Fe0.04O nanocrystallines exhibit the highest photocatalytic efficiency, which is attributed to the balance between visible light absorption and valence band edge potential.