Intensification of nucleation stage for synthesizing high quality CdSe quantum dots by using preheated precursors in microfluidic devices

• Nucleation stage was intensified by using preheated precursors in microfluidic devices.
• Small size CdSe QDs with green fluorescence can be synthesized.
• A method to synthesize monodispersed crystal seeds for further synthesis was developed.

We developed a simple and facile microfluidic approach to continuously synthesize high quality CdSe quantum dots by using preheated precursors. The preheating process could intensify the burst of nucleation, and CdSe quantum dots with smaller size would be synthesized compared to previous methods using room-temperature precursors directly. Besides, a burst of nucleation stage and a stable growth stage without prolonged nucleation could reduce the size distribution of CdSe quantum dots through the preheating process. By this method, high quality quantum dots with small size or high quality crystal seeds could be synthesized easily, which is necessary for the synthesis of small core–shell quantum dots or large quantum dots with high monodispersity.

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