With an aim of elevating liquid electrolyte loading, ionic conductivity, and electrocatalytic activity of gel electrolyte toward triiodides, freeze-dried microporous poly(acrylic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PAA-PEG) matrix is employed to uptake conducting polymers, such as polyaniline (PANi) and polypyrrole (PPy). An ionic conductivity of 19.18 mS cm(-1) at 65 degrees C is obtained from PAA-PEG/PANi conducting gel electrolyte which is nearly similar to 19.22 mS cm(-1) from pure liquid electrolyte. The conducting polymers can form interconnected channels within insulating microporous PAA-PEG matrix, therefore, the reduction reaction of triiodide ions in the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can be extended from Pt/gel electrolyte interface to both interface and three-dimensional framework of microporous conducting gel electrolyte. The resultant DSSCs from PAA-PEG/PANi and PAA-PEG/PPy conducting gel electrolytes display power conversion efficiencies of 7.12% and 6.53%, respectively, which are much higher than 5.02% from pure PAA-PEG-based DSSC. The new concept along with easy fabrication promises the microporous conducting gel electrolytes to be good alternatives in efficient quasi-solid-state DSSCs. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.