Two novel trivalent metal porphyrin dyes, P(Mn)-HT-SCN and P(Ga)-HT-SCN, were designed, synthesized and firstly applied in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These two dyes possess porphyrin donor modified with manganese (III) and gallium (Ill) as coordination metal and NCS as the second ligand, cyanoacrylic acid as electron-accepting moiety and 4-hexylthiophene as pi-spacers. Each of the porphyrin showed different adsorption behavior and saturated coverage on the TiO(2) surface. Between the two dyes, the P(Mn)-HT-SCN-based DSSCs afforded the best photovoltaic performance: a short-circuit photocurrent density (J(sc)) of 4.32 mA/cm(2), an open-circuit photovoltage (V(oc)) of 0.61 V and a fill factor (FF) of 0.58, corresponding to a solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 1.53% under 100 mW/cm(2) irradiation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.