Phosphorus-doped porous graphene nanosheet with a large specific surface area (1627.8 m(2) g(-1)) was prepared via chemical vapour deposition (CVD) with porous Mg-3(PO4)(2) as phosphorus (P) source and template, then it was applied as the counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Due to the enhanced intrinsic catalytic activity induced by P doping, along with abundant open edge sites originated from the unique porous nanosheet, DSSCs with P doped porous graphene nanosheets CEs exhibited a high power conversion efficiency of 7.08%, which was comparable to that of DSSCs with Pt CEs. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.