Poly(divinybenzene-co-chloromethylstyrene) (poly(DVB-co-VBC)) nanotubes (PDVBVBC-NT) and imidazolium surface functionalized poly(DVB-co-VBC) (Im-PDVBVBC-NT) are synthesized by cationic polymerization and utilized as the gelators for ionic liquid based gel electrolytes. Compared with the synthesized pristine PDVBVBC-NT, Im-PDVBVBC-NT (a gelator dose as low as 1 wt%) based gel electrolytes show higher ionic conductivity and diffusion coefficient. The fabricated DSSCs based on Im-PDVBVBC-NT gel electrolyte show a power conversion efficiency of 4.9% and 5.5% under a simulated air mass 1.5 solar spectrum illumination at 100 mW cm(-2) and 50 mW cm(-2), respectively. Furthermore, Im-PDVBVBC-NT based DSSCs show better long-term stability than that with ionic liquid electrolyte, which indicated that Im-PDVBVBC-NT based gel electrolytes could overcome the leakage problems of the cells with pure ionic liquid electrolytes. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.