Mesoporous ZnAl2Si10O24 nanofertilizers enable high yield of Oryza sativa L

Fizza Naseem; Yang Zhi; Muhammad Akhyar Farrukh; Fayyaz Hussain; Zongyou Yin

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-67611-4

Mesoporous ZnAl₂Si₁₀O₂₄ nanofertilizers enable high yield of Oryza sativa L

Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 2;10(1):10841. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67611-4.

Authors

Fizza Naseem^{1

2}, Yang Zhi^{2

3}, Muhammad Akhyar Farrukh^{4

5}, Fayyaz Hussain⁶, Zongyou Yin⁷

Affiliations

¹ Nano-Chemistry Lab, Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan.
² Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
³ School of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, 110016, China.
⁴ Nano-Chemistry Lab, Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan. akhyar100@gmail.com.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore, 54600, Pakistan. akhyar100@gmail.com.
⁶ Land Resource Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Park road, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.
⁷ Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia. Zongyou.yin@anu.edu.au.

Abstract

Controllable release of nutrients in soil can overcome the environmental problems associated with conventional fertilizer. Here we synthesized mesoporous nanocomposite of Zinc aluminosilicate (ZnAl₂Si₁₀O₂₄) via co-precipitation method. Oryza sativa L. husk was used as source of silica for making the synthesis process green and economical. The nanocomposite was subsequently loaded with urea to achieve the demand of simultaneous and slow delivery of both zinc and urea. The structural characterization of nanocomposite was done by FTIR, XRD, TGA, BET, SEM/EDX and TEM. The release of urea and zinc was investigated with UV-Vis spectrophotometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy, respectively, up to 14 days. It was noted that urea holding capacity of mesoporous ZnAl₂Si₁₀O₂₄ nanocomposite over long period of time was increased as compared to bulk aluminosilicates, due to its high surface area (193.07 m² g^-1) and small particle size of (64 nm). Urea release was found highest in first 24 h because of excess of adsorption on nanocomposite and least at 14th day. Fertilizer efficiency was checked on Oryza sativa L. in comparison with commercial urea and results showed significantly higher yield in case of urea loaded ZnAl₂Si₁₀O₂₄ nanocomposite.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't