Growth of dendritic antimony nanocrystals at room temperature

Antimony dendritic nanocrystals have been prepared in a large scale by the reduction of Sb3+ with metallic zinc powder at room temperature in aqueous or alcoholic solution. It is found that homogeneous Sb3+ solution and rapid reduction reaction play important role in the formation of Sb dendrites. The possible formation mechanism of Sb dendrites is also investigated.