The synthesis of hybrid nano-composites in which an inorganic layer is grown on a polymeric surface via chemical bonds, is a challenging goal for many applications from photocatalysis, to sensing and optoelectronics. Herein, we describe on the growth of ZnO nanostructures by an Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technique on polyetherimide (poly(2,2′-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)phenylpropane)-2-phenylendiimide ULTEM® 1000) substrates. A surface modification consisting of a thermal photo-oxidization process, applied for different exposure times, has been properly performed on the polymer to promote the production of ALD suitable functionalities as reactive surface-sites. The chemical anchoring of the inorganic species from the gas-phase is demonstrated by spectroscopy and mass analyses to exclusively occur on the pre-oxidized films, whilst the ZnO growth does not occur in the untreated ULTEM® films in …