A novel Cu2S counter electrode (CE), which is prepared through simple electroplating method, is used to fabricate CdS quantum dot sensitized solar cells. The cells applying our novel CE show high power conversion efficiency in its class, reaching 2.6% under standard AM1.5 illumination, which is higher than those with Platinum CE (1.1%) and brass based Cu2S CE (1.85%). This is due to the novel CE showing superior photoelectrochemical performance and electrocatalytic property indicated by current density-voltage (J-V), the incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) curves. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.