A novel organic dye with fluorenone as ?-conjugation bridge was designed and synthesized as sensitizers for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The dye was 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 dye were studied. The dye achieved a light to electricity conversion efficiency (η) of 2.51% (open-circuit photovoltage Voc = 0.73 V, short-circuit photocurrent density Jsc = 4.46 mA/cm2 and fill factor FF= 0.77) under 100 mW/cm2 (AM 1.5G).