Porous, transparent and controllable ZnO nanoparticulate films were fabricated by self-hydrolysis of zinc salts in its crystalline water without any additions at 65 degrees C by an evaporating acetone solvent. The crystallite size of ZnO nanoparticles was about 30 nm, and the thickness of the nanoparticle film was controllable by simply changing the coating times. ZnO nanoparticulate films in thickness of 500 nm showed a high transmittance (>90%) in the visible range and widen bandgap (335 eV). The c-axis oriented ZnO nanoarray film was fabricated by a subsequent heterogeneous nucleation and growth in an aqueous solution. As-grown ZnO hybrid films showed a good transmittance (>85%) in the visible range. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.