Recently, the Innovation Team for Molecular Targets and Green Pesticide Development at the Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IPPCAAS), published a review article titled “Size Effects of Nanoenabled Agrochemicals in Sustainable Crop Production: Advances, Challenges, and Perspectives” in  ACS Nano  (Impact Factor 15.8). The article systematically elaborates on the research progress of the size effects of nanoenabled agrochemicals (mainly nanopesticides and nanofertilizers) in dose delivery, biological activity, and nontarget safety, emphasizing the importance of considering various complex factors and practical field application scenarios, thereby providing important references for the sustainable development of nanoenabled agrochemicals.

In recent years, the development of nanoenabled agrochemicals has progressed rapidly, becoming a crucial research direction in agriculture and playing a vital role in plant protection and food security. Nanoenabled agrochemicals are named for their nanoscale particle size, with their core feature being the size effects, referring to changes in key physical and chemical properties and application performance resulting from the significant reduction in size. Specifically, size effects directly influence the penetration of nanoenabled agrochemicals into organisms, their absorption and transport, target biological activity, and nontarget safety.

Based on extensive literature reviews and experimental studies, the researchers found that although nanoenabled agrochemicals generally exhibit higher utilization efficiency due to size reduction, smaller does not necessarily mean better. Researchers should explore appropriate sizes based on the biological characteristics of the target organisms, actual field application methods, and environmental factors to achieve a balance between the effectiveness, safety, and cost-efficiency of agrochemicals.

Importantly, the study emphasizes that research on the size effects of nanoenabled agrochemicals should not focus solely on particle size but must also consider the influence of various complex factors. For instance, the DLVO (Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek) theory highlights that the interactions between colloidal particles are jointly determined by van der Waals forces and electrostatic double layer forces. Additionally, factors such as particle morphology, roughness, charge, surface chemistry, solvation forces, and hydration forces collectively affect the size effects of nanoenabled agrochemicals applied in the field.

The article points out that future research should leverage emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, micro-nano chips, and machine learning, to enable the high-throughput preparation of uniform nanoenabled agrochemicals, standardize characterization methods, and establish scientific and systematic predictive evaluation standards. Simultaneously, global market regulation should be strengthened, and systematic evaluations of effectiveness and safety should be conducted. Developing nanoenabled agrochemicals tailored to typical field application scenarios and biological characteristics of target organisms requires further in-depth research, with additional focus on the co-exposure of multi-scale particles and changes in particle size during actual application.

In summary, the article systematically elaborates on the research progress of size effects of nanoenabled agrochemicals in dose delivery, biological activity, and nontarget safety, analyzes various complex factors influencing size effects, and scientifically and objectively identifies challenges and issues in the preparation, characterization, and application of nanoenabled agrochemicals. The study aims to provide references for understanding the size effects of nanoenabled agrochemicals and their applications in sustainable agriculture.

Master’s student Liu Hongyi and doctoral student Shangguan Wenjie are the co-first authors of the paper, and Professors Huang Qiliang and Cao Lidong are the co-corresponding authors. The research was supported by the National Key R&D Program (2022YFD1700500), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (6232033), and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of CAAS (CAAS-ZDRW202411).

Links：https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.4c09803