Two new amphiphilic ruthenium complexes with new bipyridyl ligands, Ru(CPOD)(dcbpy)(NCS)(2)(Ru-I) and Ru(DPOD)(dcbpy)(NCS)(2)(Ru-2) (CPOD=4-carboxy-4'-[2-(4-nonyloxyphenyl)-5-phenyl-oxadiazorl]-2,2' bipyridine, DPOD =4,4' -di [2-(4-nonyloxyphenyl)-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazoyl]-2,2' -bipyridine, dcbpy =4,4' - dicarboxy-2,2'-bipyridine), were synthesized and characterized by IR spectra, cyclic voltammetry, UV-Vis spectra, elemental analysis and I-V curves. They exhibit good MLCT absorptions and high molar extinction coefficients (similar to 1.43 x 10(4) L . mol(-1) . cm(-1) at 555 nm). The spectroscopic and electrochemical measurements show that the excited states of these complexes match the conduction band of titanium dioxide. They were used as sensitzers for dye-sensitized solar cells and their photoelectric conversion efficiencies are nearly 2.4%.