In this study, a novel carbon bead string (CBS) is synthesized through a simple method, which is subsequently introduced into the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) as a cathode catalyst. The resultant CBS cathode displays decent electro-catalytic activities for the traditional iodide redox couple (I-3(-)/ I-). More importantly, CBS cathode presents distinct superiorities when applied in an organic sulfide redox couple (T-2/T-). T-2/T- electrolyte-based DSCs with CBS cathode has resulted in a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.83%, which is much higher than that of Pt cathode-based counterpart (3.71%), demonstrating 57.1% of PCE improvement. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.