InAs quantum dots (QDs) are characterized by absorption and photoluminescence (PL) in the near-infrared (NIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum and they are RoHS-compliant (European Union’s “Restriction of Hazardous Substances” directives).¹ For these reasons InAs QDs are promising candidates for NIR-related applications ranging from photovoltaics, lasing and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The most developed synthesis approach to InAs QDs is based on tris-trimethylsilyl (or tris-trimethylgermil) arsine precursor (TMS-As/TMGe-As). Such As precursors are toxic, highly pyrophoric and not commercially available, therefore being not ideal for a large-scale production of InAs QDs. Recently, the search for alternative less toxic and commercially available precursors spotted tris(dimethylamino)arsine (amino-As) as a promising As precursor, renewing the research interest InAs QDs. Currently, InAs QCs obtained with amine-As need to be improved in terms of size distribution and optical properties to reach the standards achieved with TMS-As/TMGe-As precursors. In this regard, we employed ZnCl₂ as an additive in the amino-As-based synthesis of InAs QDs and studied the corresponding effects.² We found that ZnCl₂ can bind the surface of InAs QDs behaving as a Z-type ligand, improving their PL quantum yield (QY) and the control over their size distribution. Furthermore, the presence of ZnCl₂ on the QDs’ surface and in the raw reaction solution allows for the in-situ growth of a ZnSe shell via a simple injection of the Se precursor. Under our reaction conditions, we obtained InAs@ZnSe core@shell QDs having a ZnSe shell thickness of ~2ML, which show a PL emission centered at ~860 nm with a PLQY as high as 42±4%. Because the lattice mismatch between InAs and ZnSe is around 6%, and this high value usually leads to strained core@shell structure and decreases the PLQY. In our peculiar in-situ growth condition, an intermediate In-Zn-Se layer between InAs core and ZnSe shell is formed, and it helps to reduce the lattice strain and lead to a high PLQY. Given the high PLQY of these QDs, they were employed for the fabrication of NIR LEDs. Obtained NIR LEDs featured an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 5.5% at 947 nm and an operational lifetime of ∼32 h before reaching 50% of their initial luminance.³ The research results presented here are only a starting point to improve the synthesis of InAs-based QDs with amino-As with outstanding optical properties, and develop the more efficient NIR LEDs.