Nanocrystalline TiO2 films were deposited on SnO2:F (FTO) coated glass substrate by the facing-target sputtering technique. Ruthenium complex-based dye was used to sensitize TiO2 films and carbon paste coated on FTO glass was used as a counterelectrode. The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) performance was investigated with various sputtering Ar/O-2 gas-flow ratios of 8:2, 7:3, and 6:4. The structure of TiO2 films has shown a penniform columnar structure and the morphology has the clear dependence on the gas-flow ratio. The DSC with TiO2 electrode deposited at 7:3 gas-flow ratio exhibits the highest photocurrent (4.74 mA/cm(2)), maximum photoelectric-conversion efficiency (1.38%), and incident photon-to-current efficiency (58.9%) at 520 nm. Moreover, this DSC shows a longer lifetime which implies low recombination rate. (C) 2010 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3480919]