Nanocoral ZnO films on flexible poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) were fabricated using a three step approach including (1) sputter deposition of a porous Zn film onto a sacrificial Si carrier substrate, (2) formation of the nanocoral ZnO film through annealing in an oxygen flow at temperatures greater than 400 degrees C and (3) transfer of the film to an adhesive-coated PVC substrate with subsequent removal of the Si carrier. The proposed approach enables the fabrication of porous ZnO films requiring high temperature preparation on flexible polymer-based substrates which would otherwise degrade at high temperatures. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.