A series of polyene-diphenylaniline based organic dyes (coded as D5, D7, D9 and D11) have been reported for the application in ionic liquid electrolyte based dye-sensitized solar cells. The effects of substitution of organic dyes on the photovoltaic performance have been investigated, which show addition of methoxy groups on the triphenylamine donor group increases short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage and photovoltaic performance. A power conversion efficiency of 6.5% under AM 1.5 sunlight at 100 mW/cm(2) has been obtained with D11 dye in combination with a binary ionic liquid electrolyte, which when subjected to accelerated testing under one sun light soaking at 60 degrees C, the efficiency remained 90% of initial efficiency. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.