Abstract
Zinc (Zn) micronutrient deficiency is a widespread problem affecting crops worldwide. Unlike conventional ionic fertilizers (Zn as salt or chelated forms), Zn-based engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) ...
Highlights
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of commercial ZnO NPs powders showed that the particles were nearly spheroidal with mean diameter of 87 ± 24 nm (Fig. S1, supporting information)
The diameter of the nanoparticles calculated from Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images was in good agreement with the obtained by SEM, which showed that the ZnO NPs did not aggregate in water
ZnO NPs calculated from SEM and TEM images was higher than that reported by the manufacturer (20 nm)
Summary
Nanotechnology has achieved great progress and it has been applied with success in several fields such as electronics, energy, environmental science and medicine.[1,2,3,4]. ZnO NPs dissolve relatively fast in acidic soils and can be subject to aggregation leading to low Zn availability to crops and significant Zn losses by soil leaching and wash-off which result in Zn contamination of surface and groundwater.[13,32] We hypothesise that the immobilization of ZnO NPs onto polymeric substrates to form composites that release Zn in a slower and controlled manner can be a solution to these problems Biopolymers such as cellulose, alginate or chitosan can be interesting choices to be used as substrates for immobilization of nanoparticles to produce composite fertilizers because these are natural, low cost and biodegradable polymers.[33] some of these polymers are themselves beneficial to plants. Scheme 1 Methods used for the preparation of the composites prepared in this work
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