Broader contextDye-sensitized solar cells transforming solar light into electricity can serve to alleviate the shortage of fossil fuels, can contribute to the reduction of CO2emissions and in the long term can form part of the pool of renewable, sustainable energy resources. However, there are still important problems with this type of cell that need to be solved in order to facilitate the widespread application of this technology. In the current state of the art, the maximum overall efficiency for the conversion of solar energy into electrical power is about 10% and there is still much room for improvement. In this context, most of the dye-sensitized solar cells are based on conventional titania nanoparticles as the active semiconductor. The efficiency of solar cells based on titania nanoparticles has been continuously improved in a large number of contributions, but, in spite of the intensive research in this area, the increment in the efficiency is very minor. The approach described in our contribution is to develop novel semiconductor materials that derive from layered hydrotalcites as semiconductors. The synthesis of these materials is simple and advantageous because they can be reliably prepared in large quantities by precipitation from aqueous solutions. In this paper we show that the efficiency of solar cells derived from hydrotalcites is similar to that of titania. Considering the wide range of hydrotalcites that can be prepared with various di- and trivalent metals, our report can serve to develop new semiconductors that eventually can overcome the efficiency of titania nanoparticles.