A novel isophorone sensitizer D-3 based on a donor-pi-acceptor system has been conveniently synthesized for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells, resulting in a remarkable overall conversion efficiency of 7.41% (AM 1.5, 100 mW cm(-2)) with Jsc of 18.63 mA cm(-2), Voc of 634 mV and FF of 0.63.