In this paper, two novel organic dyes with 4-nitrobenzene in electron acceptor were designed and synthesized as sensitizers for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The dyes were characterized by mass spectrometry (MS), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (1H–NMR), and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (13C–NMR). The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the dyes were studied. Dye L-TPNC achieved a higher light to electricity conversion efficiency (η) of 1.59% (open-circuit photovoltage Voc = 0.65 V, short-circuit photocurrent density Jsc = 3.49 mA/cm2 and fill factor FF= 0.70) under 100 mW/cm2 (AM 1.5G), and the efficiency of DSSCs based on S-TPNC reached 1.23%.