In this work, a novel acetohydrazide zinc porphyrin-based coordination polymer (CP)-isonicotinic acid self-assembly by metal-ligand axial coordination to modify the nano-structured TiO2 electrode surface has been investigated in photoelectrochemical device. Compared to the assembly based on corresponding zinc porphyrin combined with isonicotinic acid by metal-ligand axial coordination, CP-isonicotinic acid assembly exhibits a significantly enhanced photoelectronic behavior. In addition, a series of different organic acid ligands were prepared to probe the impact of their structures on the photoelectronic performances of their corresponding assemblies-sensitized cells. This study affords a novel type of self-assembly to functionalize the nanostructured TiO2 electrode surface in supramolecular solar cells. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.