Zhejiang University
The rapid development of nanotechnology has opened up new avenues for modern agricultural science and is currently giving birth to major breakthroughs in many cross-disciplinary fields in traditional agriculture. For the first time the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) placed nano-enabled pesticides among the Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry in 2019, and nanopesticides have become a cutting-edge area in the development of pesticide formulations.
In this study, researchers developed a prochloraz (Pro) and pH-jump reagent-loaded zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (PD@ZIF-8) composite for smart control of Sclerotinia disease. The pH-jump reagent can induce the acidic degradation of ZIF-8 using UV light to realize the controlled release of Pro. The obtained PD@ZIF-8 nanoparticles are marked by their better formulation stability, foliage adhesion, uptake, and translocation.