Human population increased exponentially over the last century, reaching 7 billion people in 2012, and it is estimated to continue increasing at a similar rate over the next few years—reaching ~9.8 billion people by 2050. To accommodate for the increasing global population, there will need to be a 50% increase on worldwide food production, which will put a significant demand on a food industry that is already experiencing a considerable strain on its resources. Sustainable agriculture is a crucial component of the effort to meet this increased demand for food production. Currently, the methods used for enhancing agricultural yields, such as the use of pesticides and fertilizers, have proven to be disadvantageous—they only reach a minimal percentage of their targets and are proven to have an overall negative impact on the environment and human health—which has prompted a shift in the agricultural industry towards a safer and more efficient means of production. Nanotechnology as an application in agriculture has recently become a rapidly evolving area of research and it has demonstrated the potential to address the problems facing the agricultural industry today. As an approach to these problems, we aim to design a nano-delivery system for plant nutrients using two-dimensional nanosheets of modified MXenes intercalated with CuS and CuInS nanoparticles. The presentation will describe the synthesis and characterization of CuS and CuInS nanoparticle-containing MXenes and initial nanoparticles delivery experiments in solution. Future studies will focus on characterizing the impact of modified MXenes on living organisms that are ubiquitous to the environment and on increasing their binding to plants, and minimize their environmental, ecological, and health impacts by tuning their composition and functionalizing their surface with biocompatible ligands. By studying these materials in the field, we aim to design a new, efficient, and sustainable nutrient delivery system which can replace the use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture.

Three-dimensional nanostructures as delivery systems for agricultural applications

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.