We report metal substrate dependent formation of honeycomb-like nanopatterns via a versatile anodization method. During the anodization of metal foils, the well-known formation of well-aligned metal oxide nanotube arrays are observed, and honeycomb-like nano-hole patterns are successfully obtained after stripping the oxide nanotube array layers. Interestingly, the sizes of the nano-hole patterns are dependent upon the starting metal substrate for the anodization. By simple alternation of a metal substrate for anodization, it is possible to tune the radius and interpore distance of the resulting nanosized hole patterns. As one of applications for nanopatterned metal substrates, flexible dyesensitized solar cells are fabricated, and the positive effects of the nanopatterned substrate on cell efficiency are investigated. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.