Issue 1, 2020

Emerging investigator series: polymeric nanocarriers for agricultural applications: synthesis, characterization, and environmental and biological interactions

Abstract

Polymeric nanoparticles represent one major class of nanomaterials that has been proposed to improve the sustainability of agricultural operations by delivering organic agrochemicals such as pesticides more efficiently. Polymeric nanoparticles can improve efficiency through improved targeting and uptake, slow release, and lower losses of the chemicals, while also conferring the benefits of biodegradability and biocompatibility. This review provides a tutorial to environmental nanotechnology researchers interested in initiating research on the development and application of polymeric nanocarriers for delivery of agrochemicals, including pesticides and growth promoters for crops and antibiotics for livestock. In particular, this review covers the wider suite of methods that will be required beyond those typically used for inorganic metal or metal oxide nanoparticles, including synthesis of custom polymeric nanocarriers and characterization and tuning of agrochemical loading and release profiles. Benefits of polymeric nanocarriers are then discussed in terms of the physicochemical properties and fate and transport behaviors that contribute to higher efficiency and lesser environmental impacts compared to traditional (non-nano) formulations. Finally, opportunities for environmental nanotechnology researchers to collaborate with material scientists, microbiologists, and agricultural scientists to optimize the development of polymeric nanocarriers for agriculture are discussed.

Graphical abstract: Emerging investigator series: polymeric nanocarriers for agricultural applications: synthesis, characterization, and environmental and biological interactions

Article information

Article type
Tutorial Review
Submitted
05 Oct 2019
Accepted
08 Dec 2019
First published
09 Dec 2019

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020,7, 37-67

Author version available

Emerging investigator series: polymeric nanocarriers for agricultural applications: synthesis, characterization, and environmental and biological interactions

S. Shakiba, C. E. Astete, S. Paudel, C. M. Sabliov, D. F. Rodrigues and S. M. Louie, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020, 7, 37 DOI: 10.1039/C9EN01127G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements