摘要：With density functional theory（DFT） method, the optimization of molecular configurations and the calcu- lation of frontier molecular orbitals were achieved for triphenylamine（TPA）-based dye-sensitized solar cell materials at the B3LYP/6-31G（d, p） level. Time-dependent density functional theory（TD-DFT） was applied to calculating the probability of the transition from the ground state to the excited state. And UV-Vis absorption spectra were derived with Franck-Condon approximation. The conjugation length, substitution groups and spatial effects show a slight influence on the dihedral angle of the TPA group. The increase of conjugation length may cause a smaller energy gap as well as a higher highest occupied molecular orbital（HOMO） and a lower lowest unoccupied molecular orbital （LUMO）. The introduction of methoxyl group and TPA group could lower the energy gap while the HOMO and LUMO were elevated in energy.