Design of new remediation strategies and materials for treating saline-alkaline soils is fundamentally and practically important for food production, greenhouse gas mitigation, climate change, and other global concerns. Conventional soil remediation strategies mainly focus on the development of fertilizers or additives for water, nutrient, and heavy metal managements in soils, but they often overlook a soil sensing function for early detecting salinization/alkalization levels towards optimal and timely soil remediation. Here, we formulated new smart soils, structurally consisting of the upper signal soil (USS) and the bottom hygroscopic bed (HSB) and chemically including zwitterionic, thermo-responsive poly(NIPAM-<i>co</i>-VPES) and poly(NIPAM-<i>co</i>-SBAA) aerogels in each soil layer. Upon salinization, the resultant smart soils exhibited multiple superior capacities for effectively reducing the soil salinity and alkalinity through ion exchange, deactivation, and acid-base neutralization, controlling the water cycling by adsorbing water under dry conditions and releasing water under wet conditions, modulating the degradation of pyridine-base ligands into water-soluble, nitrogenous salts-rich ingredients for soil fertility, and real-time monitoring salinized soils via pH-induced allochroic color changes. Further studies of plant growth in smart soils with or without salinization treatments confirmed a synergy effect of soil remediation and soil sensing on facilitating the growth of plants and increasing the saline-alkaline tolerance of plants. As compared to conventional clay and sandy soils, our smart soils can be further expanded for measurement of additional nutrients and contaminants, making it a robust tool for soil remediation and assessment.

Design of zwitterionic, responsive polymers for smart soils

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

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