Nanocrystalline FTO/ZnO/ZnSe were prepared from electrodeposited zinc oxide films and then converted into FTO/ZnO/CuSe heterostructures via complete substitution of zinc(II) in zinc selenide by copper(II). The starting FTO/ZnO films contain a 5-6-mu m layer of porous zinc oxide microplatelets with the lateral size of up to 3 pin and the thickness of up to 200 nm which are formed by loosely aggregated ZnO nanocrystals. Partial conversion of such films into ZnSe and CuSe does not induce considerable changes in the film morphology allowing to use the FTO/ZnO films as a template defining the morphology and composition of resulting FTO/ZnO/ZnSe and FTO/ZnO/CuSe films. The FTO/ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures were found to be efficient photoanodes of model liquid-junction solar cells with sulfide/polysulfide redox-couple under illumination with white light (lambda > 400 nm). The activity of FTO/ZnO/CuSe heterostructures as cathodes of such solar cells was demonstrated for the first time. A two-electrode solar cell based on the FTO/ZnO/ZnSe photoanode and the FTO/ZnO/CuSe cathode generates by an order of magnitude higher photocurrent density as compared with a similar cell based on a Pt foil cathode. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.