Dye-sensitized solar cell has received wide attention from the academic and industrial communities because of its high efficiency, capability for environmental protection, easy preparation, and other advantages. We designed a dye-sensitized solar cell tube with a structure that is different from the sandwich structure of the traditional dye-sensitized solar cell. The solar cell tube is characterized by potential low cost, easy recovery, better environmental protection capability, easy assembly, uncomplicated encapsulation and modularization, and 3-dimensional efficient capturing photon capability. After optimizing the materials, a solar cell tube module with an area of 2.50 cm(2) was assembled, and its module power conversion efficiency was up to 4.16%. Moreover, a single 15cm-long solar tube was utilized to drive a small motor on the outdoors successfully. These indicate the significant prospect of this kind of solar tube. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.