Formation of PbSe nanocrystals: A growth toward nanocubes

In this paper we report an electron microscopic observation of crystal shape development when PbSe nanocrystals were synthesized using a dynamic injection technique at different temperatures in the presence of oleic acid. A two-step evolution mechanism was proposed, indicating that the shape evolution of PbSe nanocrystals is dependent on the growth time, whereas the crystalline size can be tuned by varying the growth temperature under the studied conditions. It also implies that a higher growth rate in the 〈111〉 direction compared to that in the 〈100〉 direction results in the formation of nanocubes.