There is increasing interest in using ZnO as an alternative to TiO2 in photoelectrochemical solar cells that employ high-surface area, nano-structured substrates. Columnar ZnO films may offer fundamental advantages over nanoporous TiO2 such as improved electrical transport properties. We have grown perpendicularly orientated ZnO crystallites on TOF-glass from aqueous solutions containing a zinc carboxylate salt and hexamethylenetetraamine. These films provide a high-surface area substrate for subsequent overgrowth of semiconductor sensitizer layers Of Cu2-xS and Cu2-xSe. Films have been characterized by spectroscopic methods (UV-vis, photoluminescence), microscopy (SEM) and powder XRD. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.