The doped rare-earth oxide europium-doped yttria (Y2O3:Eu3+) is introduced into the TiO2 film electrode in a dye-sensitized solar cell. As a luminescence medium, Y2O3:Eu3+ improves the light harvesting via a conversion luminescence process and increases the photocurrent, as a p-type dopant, Y2O3:Eu3+ elevates the energy level of the oxide film and increases the photovoltage. When the TiO2 electrode is doped by 3 wt.% Y2O3:Eu3+, the cell light-to-electric conversion efficiency is improved by a factor of 1.14 compared to that of a cell without Y2O3:Eu3+ doping. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.