Composite photoelectrode with Pt nanoparticles deposited on three-dimensional (3D) fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) conductive grid was fabricated as the counter electrode (CE) of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC), which exhibits larger electrochemical active surface area (9.54 m(2)/g) and lower charge transfer resistance (2.1 Omega) in iodide/triiodide (I-/I-3(-)) redox electrolyte than the conventional planar counter electrode. The cell efficiency of DSSC with 3D counter electrode was 8.7%, which was 14% higher than that of DSSC with planar counter electrode. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.