Cellulose has been reported as a renewable smart material useful for sensors and actuators. We report an enhanced electromechanical behavior of zinc oxide nanocoated cellulose film (ZONCE). A zinc oxide nanolayer is uniformly formed on the surface of a regenerated cellulose film by using a solution based hydrothermal process. Such a simple ZnO nanolayer deposition of ZONCE shows a drastic improvement of its electromechanical behavior. Physical, chemical, electrical, mechanical and electromechanical characteristics along with the reasons of improved electromechanical behavior of ZONCE are discussed in this paper. Using the ZONCE, a vibration energy harvester is demonstrated. It is promising that the ZONCE is easy to fabricate by an inexpensive solution process without sacrificing biocompatibility, transparency, flexibility and low cost. (C) 2016 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.