Francisco J Carmona1, Gregorio Dal Sasso2, Gloria B Ramírez-Rodríguez3, Youry Pii4, José Manuel Delgado-López3, Antonietta Guagliardi5, Norberto Masciocchi6. 1. Department of Science and High Technology and To.Sca.Lab, University of Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy. fjcarmona@ugr.es. 2. Institute of Crystallography and To.Sca.Lab, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy. 3. Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Granada, Av. Fuentenueva S/N, 18071, Granada, Spain. 4. Faculty of Science and Technologies, Free University of Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100, Bolzano, Italy. 5. Institute of Crystallography and To.Sca.Lab, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy. antonella.guagliardi@ic.cnr.it. 6. Department of Science and High Technology and To.Sca.Lab, University of Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como, Italy. norberto.masciocchi@uninsubria.it.
Abstract
Nanosized fertilizers are the new frontier of nanotechnology towards a sustainable agriculture. Here, an efficient N-nanofertilizer is obtained by post-synthetic modification (PSM) of nitrate-doped amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) nanoparticles (NPs) with urea. The unwasteful PSM protocol leads to N-payloads as large as 8.1 w/w%, is well replicated by using inexpensive technical-grade reagents for cost-effective up-scaling and moderately favours urea release slowdown. Using the PSM approach, the N amount is ca. 3 times larger than that obtained in an equivalent one-pot synthesis where urea and nitrate are jointly added during the NPs preparation. In vivo tests on cucumber plants in hydroponic conditions show that N-doped ACP NPs, with half absolute N-content than in conventional urea treatment, promote the formation of an equivalent amount of root and shoot biomass, without nitrogen depletion. The high nitrogen use efficiency (up to 69%) and a cost-effective preparation method support the sustainable real usage of N-doped ACP as a nanofertilizer.
nclass="Chemical">Nanosized fertilizers are the class="Chemical">new froclass="Chemical">ntier of class="Chemical">n class="Chemical">nanotechnology towards a sustainable agriculture. Here, an efficient N-nanofertilizer is obtained by post-synthetic modification (PSM) of nitrate-doped amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) nanoparticles (NPs) with urea. The unwasteful PSM protocol leads to N-payloads as large as 8.1 w/w%, is well replicated by using inexpensive technical-grade reagents for cost-effective up-scaling and moderately favours urea release slowdown. Using the PSM approach, the N amount is ca. 3 times larger than that obtained in an equivalent one-pot synthesis where urea and nitrate are jointly added during the NPs preparation. In vivo tests on cucumber plants in hydroponic conditions show that N-doped ACPNPs, with half absolute N-content than in conventional urea treatment, promote the formation of an equivalent amount of root and shoot biomass, without nitrogen depletion. The high nitrogen use efficiency (up to 69%) and a cost-effective preparation method support the sustainable real usage of N-doped ACP as a nanofertilizer.
Authors: Daniel J Conley; Hans W Paerl; Robert W Howarth; Donald F Boesch; Sybil P Seitzinger; Karl E Havens; Christiane Lancelot; Gene E Likens Journal: Science Date: 2009-02-20 Impact factor: 47.728