**Abstract**

Zinc oxide has been used for many applications, for example optoelectronic devices, ceramics, catalysts, pigments, varistors and many other important applications. In this study, ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by mixture of fuel approach in solution combustion method. Mixtures of urea, glycine and citric acid were mixed at room temperature with Zinc nitrates as fuels resulting in spontaneous ignition resulting in production of ZnO nanopowder. The crystal structure and size of the synthesized powder were determined by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), which revealed that the synthesized ZnO nanopowder has the pure wurtzite structure having crystallite size 26–40 nm. Optical studies of nanomaterial were examined by FTIR and UV-Visible absorption spectrum. The luminescence studies also investigated in the visible region 360–800 nm with excitation 325 nm laser. These nanomaterials may be used in solid-state lightening devices.

**Keywords:** ZnO NPs, X-ray diffraction, bandgap, luminescence
