A theoretical treatment is given of the mechanisms that might be responsible for reported improvements in solar cell characteristics of, in particular, TiO2/CulnS(2) based nanostructured ETA-solar cells. Especially, the possible benefits of the insertion of an intermediate tunnel barrier (Al2O3, MgO) or buffer layer (CdS) are investigated. Three mechanisms to improve V-oc without compromising J(sc) are discussed: (i) introduction of an energy barrier which is higher for dark current than for light current; (ii) reduction of the interface state density at either side of the intermediate layer (IL) compared to the structure without IL, for materials reasons; and (iii) reduction of the effect of interface states due to a more favourable position of the Fermi levels at the interface, with respect to the band edges. The dark saturation current and hence V-oc turn out to be determined by interface recombination, and chemical and electrostatic interactions at the interfaces. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.