A novel carbon counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell was fabricated by coating the mesoporous carbon paste on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrate. Mesoporous carbon with pore size of 6.8 nm was distributed uniformly on the conductive substrate. The electrocatalytic activity of mesoporous carbon electrode for triiodide reduction was studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. By optimizing the carbon loading and heating temperature, the charge-transfer resistance of 0.7 Omega cm(2) for mesoporous carbon counter electrode was achieved. The short-circuit current density, the open-circuit voltage, the fill factor and the over-all conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell with mesoporous carbon counter electrode were 15.5 mA cm(-2), 0.605 V, 65% and 6.18%, respectively. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.