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 掳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.