Growth of ZnO thin film on conventional Si (100) substrate using atomically thin graphene as a buffer layer has been studied. The graphene buffer layer was synthesized by Cu-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition method and transferred on Si (100) using well-established polymer coating and Cu etching techniques. The ZnO film with (0002) preferred orientation was developed on graphene buffered Si (100) compared to ZnO film grown on Si (100) directly, which showed random orientation distribution. The graphene layer acts as not only lattice matching with ZnO but also diffusion barrier between ZnO and Si substrate, resulting in high electron mobility and photoluminescence intensity of ZnO film. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.