Gold nanoparticles encapsulated in nanocarriers of pesticide as a potential label for understanding its fate in plants

• Grant number: 20/12769-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Renato Grillo
• Grantee: Mariana Monteiro de Lima Forini
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/21004-5 - Agriculture, micro/nanotechnology and environment: from evaluation of the mechanisms of action to studies of transport and toxicity, AP.TEM

Abstract

The development of biodegradable nanopesticides has brought significant advances for agriculture in the last decade. Such nanocarriers can reduce the physicochemical degradation of the active ingredient in the field, thus reducing their toxicity and increasing their efficiency. However, due to the difficulty of tracking such nanocarriers, little is known about their fate in terrestrial and aquatic organisms. In this context, the proposal for this project consists of developing lipid nanocarriers, which have already been studied as nanopesticides, and encapsulating gold nanoparticles with hydrophobic characteristics inside them. Thus, it is expected to obtain a label nanocarrier that can be tracked and analyzed by existing spectroscopic techniques. Therefore, this project involves the manufacture and optimization of hybrid nanocarriers, as well as the study of their fate in the aquatic plant using the atomic absorption spectroscopy, infrared, and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX). Thus, it is hoped with these results to understand the interaction between nanopesticides and plants, thus being able to contribute to the development of future more accurate and safe nanocarriers for pest control in agriculture.