An efficient flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using stainless steel supporting substrate for fabricating nanocrystalline TiO2 film electrodes were developed, intending to improve the photoelectrochemical properties of plastic substrate-based DSSCs. The most important advantage of a stainless steel-based TiO2 film electrode over a plastic-based electrode lies in its high-temperature sinterability. Optimal photovoltaic properties were obtained with a cell where the TiO2 film was coated on both ITO- and SiOx-sputtered stainless steel (denoted as TiO2/ITO/SiOx/StSt). The photocurrent of the flexible cells with a TiO2/ITO/SiO2/StSt electrode increased significantly, leading to a much higher overall solar conversion efficiency eta of 4.2% at 100 mW/cm(2), based on short-circuit photocurrent density, open-circuit voltage and fill factor of 11.2 mA/cm(2), 0.61 and 0.61 V, respectively, than those reported for cells with plastic substrates. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.