We have developed a rapid atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) sintering process for nanoporous TiO2 containing large cavities (of the order of a few hundreds of nanometers to a few micrometers) using an economically favorable NaCl solution. Screen-printing was used to administer mixed pastes consisting of TiO2 nanoparticles and NaCl solutions, following which APPJ sintering was conducted. During APPJ-sintering, numerous NaCl crystals precipitated and their sizes (large cavity sizes after DI-water rinsing) increased with the NaCl concentration of the added solution. The dual-scale porous TiO2 was then used as the photoanode of a DSSC. With an 1-wt% NaCl solution added to the TiO2 pastes, the efficiency (photocurrent density) increased from 5.89% (11.68 mA/cm(2)) to 6.57% (12.75 mA/cm(2)), The efficiency and photocurrent density of DSSC decreased as the NaCl concentration exceeded 1 wt%. Large cavities could enhance light scattering and light trapping, thereby increasing the photocurrent (short-circuit current) and efficiency. The oversized cavity, in turn, reduced the surface area for dye-adsorption (and therefore, the dye-loading) as well as the effective photocurrent transport path, leading to the reduction in the photocurrent and efficiency. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.