Visible light enhanced nitrogen-sulfur (N-S) doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films were prepared by the sol-gel method using thiourea as a dopant The physical and chemical properties of the TiO2 thin films were greatly influenced by the amount of thiourea added to the sol-gel solution The greatest shift to longer wavelengths for visible light absorption was observed with 0 6 g of thiourea in the precursor solution while 0 4 g yielded the largest particle sizes These single-cycle dip-deposited N-S doped TiO2 thin films were used as visible light harvesters as well as blocking layers in dye sensitized solar cells When deposited directly on conducting fluorine doped tin oxide electrodes photo-conversion efficiencies were reduced However the opposite configuration with N-S doped thin films on top of nanoporous TiO2 yielded an Increased open circuit voltage of 084 V a short-circuit current density of 986 mA cm(-2) and an overall conversion efficiency of 5 88% greater than that of a standard cell The effectiveness of the blocking layer on the cell efficiencies was analyzed by electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved