plasmonic effect in the cells, and is not just supported or enhanced by it.The operation of plasmonic solar cells is dependent upon the optical excitation of surface plasmons, which are collective oscillations of the surface electronic cloud in metallic nanoparticles. One of the important characteristics of metallic nanoparticles is the coupling interaction of their plasmonic oscillations with incident photons of the same frequency; this coupling excites surface plasmon resonance (SPR). [ 1 ] The SPR gives rise to strong electromagnetic fi elds, which can be used for trapping or refl ecting light, enhancing photovoltaic activity, [ 2 ] surfaceenhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), [ 3 ] and photo-catalysis. [ 4 ] When the surface plasmon decays to the ground state it can cause electron excitation within the metallic nanoparticle itself, the excited electrons are often referred to as "hot" electrons. The "hot" electrons are highly active nonequilibrium electrons that have suffi cient kinetic energy to overcome potential barriers, or tunnel through thin layers of semiconductors. [ 5 ] Since the "hot" electrons are energetic they can be used in conjunction with a semiconductor, to form a Schottky barrier photovoltaic device. As the absorption and excitation of the SPR is very wide and extends beyond the visible range of the solar spectrum, depending on the material and structure, the "hot" electrons that are formed can extend the spectral response of the photovoltaic device. The "hot" electrons are directly injected into the conduction band of the semiconductor, forming and improving the photovoltaic activity.One of the semiconductors that is used extensively for renewable energy applications is TiO 2 , which is a wide bandgap (3.2 eV) metal oxide semiconductor. As it is a highly n-type material, it is utilized namely as an electron conducting layer in solar cells to help with charge separation, [ 6 ] or as a photocatalyst for water splitting. [ 7 ] The wide bandgap of the TiO 2 only allows it to be used for solar cells in conjunction with an absorbing material, be it dye, quantum dots, or other materials, since by itself it would only absorb light from the UV part of the solar spectrum. To improve or form the photovoltaic activity of the TiO 2 as an independent photovoltaic system, silver metallic nanoparticles or nanostructures can be used. The metallic nano particles form a Schottky barrier solar cell with the TiO 2 , and the "hot" electrons that have enough kinetic energy to overcome the Schottky barrier height are injected into the TiO 2 , asThe present work reports a simple and direct sputtering deposition to form solid state TiO 2 |Ag independent plasmonic solar cells. The independent plasmonic solar cells are based on a Schottky barrier between two materials, TiO 2 and Ag. The Ag functions as the absorber generating "hot" electrons, as well as the contact for the solar cell. The Ag sputtering is performed for different durations, to form Ag nanoparticles with a wide size distribution on the surface of rough sp...