Size control by rate control in colloidal PbSe quantum dot synthesis.

A recently demonstrated approach to control the size of colloidal nanoparticles, "size control by rate control", which was validated on the examples of colloidal CdSe- and CdS-quantum dot (CQD) synthesis, appears to be a general strategy for designing technically applicable CQD-syntheses. The "size control by rate control" concept allows full-yield syntheses of ensembles of CQDs with different sizes by tuning the solute formation rate. In this work, we extended this strategy to dialkylphosphine enhanced hot-injection synthesis of PbSe-CQDs. Furthermore, we provide new insight into the reaction mechanism of dialkylphosphine enhancement in TOPSe based CQD-syntheses.