Morphology modulation of silica mesoporous nano- and microparticles for atrazine - controlled release

FOOKES, FEDERICO; CARLOS BUSATTO; TAVERNA, M. EUGENIA; CASIS, NATALIA; LESCANO, MAIA; ESTENOZ, DIANA ALEJANDRA

Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management

Elsevier

Año: 2022

2215-1532

Atrazine is a moderately toxic triazine, used as a selective pre- and post-emergenceherbicide. After application, it remains in the environment due to its low biodegradabilitycausing severe environmental effects. Several controlled release systems have beenproposed in order to minimize the negative impact of the herbicide on the environment.In particular, mesoporous silica nanoparticles have shown great potential in theagricultural area due to their controlled size and porosity, high surface area and nontoxicity. In this work, silica nano- and microparticles were synthesized and evaluated asatrazine delivery systems. The morphology and size distribution of the particles werecharacterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). The release profiles were studied by in vitro assays in water. In addition,phytotoxicity tests were performed using Lactuca sativa seeds. The mesoporous nanoand microparticles exhibited sustained release for at least 24 h and reduced phytotoxicitycompared to free atrazine.