Bismuth-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles can serve as efficient photocatalysts for various reactions. Herein, we synthesized and discussed the growth mechanisms of Bi-doped ZnO nanoflakes using co-precipitation with Bi concentrations ranging from 0 to 3 %. The resulting ZnO were hexagonal nanosheets with diameters ranging from 80 nm (ZnO) to 200 nm (ZnO: Bi 3%). The dominant crystal structure matches hexagonal wurtzite with a small presence of Bi2O3 diffraction peaks. The estimated crystallite sizes range from ~ 33 nm to ~ 45 nm, indicating multiple crystalline regions in each nanoflake. Nevertheless, as sheet resistance monotonically decreases with the Bi concentration, the higher number of grain boundaries likely has a lower effect on the conductivity compared to an increase in free carriers and larger grain size in the samples with higher Bi concentration. The bandgap decreases from ~ 3.13 eV to ~ 2.96 eV, likely due to the shrinkage effect from electron-electron or electron-impurity interaction that lowers the conduction band of ZnO.