This study presents a two-stage hydrothermal process to synthesize anatase TiO2 nanoparticles. The first stage formed sodium titanate (Na2Ti9O19). Octahedral TiO6 in Na2Ti9O19 shares crystal edges similar to those of octahedral TiO6 in anatase TiO2. This study used Na2Ti9O19 as an intermediary to generate pure anatase TiO2. The second stage involves disintegrating the structure of the Na2Ti9O19 crystals through an ion exchange of Na+ in (NaTiO19)-Ti-2-O-9 with H+ in HNO3, resulting in the formation of pure anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (7 to 10 nm). The static (acid addition) and space repulsion (binder addition) methods (surface area with BET= 81.594 m(2) g(-1)) were used to hinder the coalescence of TiO2 nanoparticles. The proposed approach produces well-dispersed nanoparticles compared to the method using only static repulsion (surface area with BET = 68.071 m(2) g(-1)). These two TiO2 materials were used to prepare photoelectrodes with a film thickness of approximately 6 mu m in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which achieved device efficiencies of 6.23% and 4.66%, respectively. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.