The TiO2 electrodes are fabricated with TiO2 nanoribbons and nanorods, respectively, which both match the structure of TiO2-B. The dyesensitized solar cells made from TiO2 nanoribbon electrodes have better photoelectrical energy conversion efficiency (eta) of 2.2% than those made from TiO2 nanorod electrodes, which have eta of 1.8% under the xenon lamp intensity of 50 mW/cm(2). The rise time and decay lifetime of the photovoltage transients are 0.37 and of 9.32 ms for the nanoribbons cells, respectively, while those are 1.39 and 6.11 ms for the nanorods cells, respectively. The reason is that only saturated Ti (IV) atoms exist in the TiO2 nanoribbons surface while there are the unsaturated coordination Ti (111) atoms in the TiO2 nanorods surface, which could trap the photo-generated electrons. So the TiO2 nanoribbons cells have better charge collection efficiency and lower interfacial charge recombination. The surface photovoltage spectra indicate that the photovoltage of the nanoribbons cells is bigger than that of the nanorods cells. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V, All rights reserved.