Colloidal Synthesis of InSb Nanocubes from Cheap and Stable Sb Precursors

Indium antimonide (InSb) is an attracting III-V semiconductor because of intriguing optical and electronic properties and high potential in variety of optoelectronic applications. However, a colloidal synthesis of InSb nanocrystals (NCs) has been rarely reported because of unfavorable thermodynamics in a solution phase and lack of appropriate precursors. Here, the present work demonstrates the colloidal synthesis of InSb nanocubes by employing appropriate commercial precursors, triphenylantimony and indium chloride as Sb and In precursors, respectively and their characterizations. This commercial Sb compound exhibits several advantages such as low cost, easy to handling, and good stability under ambient conditions, compared with previous Sb sources. The introduction of reducing agent is crucial to obtain reasonable nucleation and growth kinetics for the formation of colloidal InSb NCs. Moreover, adjusting the reaction conditions such as the reaction temperature and growth time results in size control of NCs. This synthetic route may provide deep knowledge for tailoring III-V semiconductor NCs with optimum properties.