Nanocoral ZnO films fabricated on flexible poly(vinyl chloride) using a carrier substrate

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°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. •Way of porous ZnO film fabrication on flexible poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is presented.•Fabrication: sputter deposition on Si, annealing, film detachment & transfer to PVC.•Film detachment was made possible by strain engineering in ZnO films.