Publication date: 15th December 2025
Indium antimonide (InSb) quantum dots are emerging as highly promising materials for short-wave infrared optoelectronics, owing to their intrinsically narrow bandgap and excellent charge-transport properties. Yet, achieving precise control over their size and structural quality has remained difficult, largely due to incomplete understanding of their growth pathways. In this work, we uncover a two-step formation mechanism in which metal-halide precursors first undergo room-temperature reduction to yield discrete indium and antimony nanocrystals. Upon heating, these mobile intermediates react to nucleate and grow InSb quantum dots. We show that the size and diffusivity of these metallic intermediates govern the overall growth kinetics and final quantum-dot dimensions, enabling systematic size control through judicious selection of precursor chemistry and ratios. This mechanism is further confirmed by independently synthesizing indium and antimony nanocrystals and reacting them at elevated temperature to directly form InSb quantum dots with tunable sizes. Understanding this mechanism, we obtain highly uniform quantum dots with absorption spanning 1160 to >2200 nm, exhibiting pronounced size-dependent photoluminescence and excellent long-term stability. These insights clarify the fundamental growth chemistry of InSb quantum dots and provide a scalable route to producing size-engineered nanocrystals for next-generation infrared technologies.
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