Structural, electrochemical and photocatalytic properties of zinc doped Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 perovskites prepared by auto combustion sol–gel approach

•Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 was synthesized via auto-combustion sol–gel approach.•Physico-chemical and photocatalytic properties were studied.•Zn doping affected the Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 properties significantly.•Zn doping is promising for harvesting solar light for photocatalytic activities. Zn doped cobalt perovskites Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) nanoparticles were fabricated via auto-combustion sol–gel approach. The Zn doping effect was investigated based on the basis of structural, morphological, dielectric, electrochemical and photocatalytic properties. As-fabricated series of Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 were characterized by XRD (X-ray powder diffraction), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) and UV–visible techniques along with dielectric properties. The orthorhombic phase of Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 was obtained in the particle size range of 8–22 nm. Morphological analysis revealed the rod shape scattered particles of Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3. The dielectric loss, dielectric constant and tangent loss were decreased at higher frequency and effect of Zn doping was significant on the dielectric properties. The AC conductivity of Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3 was also affected as a function of Zn contents, which increased with the Zn contents. The specific capacitance of 132 Fg−1 was observed. The Zn contents revealed a significant effect on the band gap energy of Co1-xZn1.5xFeO3, which is promising for photocatalytic application. The PCA (photocatalytic activity) was performed by degrading MO (methyl orange) dye and 69% removal was attained within 45 min under solar light irradiation. The results depicted that cobalt perovskites properties can be enhanced by Zn doping for different applications.