Sustained release of pesticide (Cypermethrin) from nanocarriers: An effective technique for environmental and crop protection

Cypermethrin loaded calcium alginate nanocarriers were prepared and characterized by various techniques such as FTIR, FESEM, TEM, XRD, DSC, SEM-EDX, ED, particles size and zeta potential analysis. Whereas the FTIR spectral analysis confirms the presence of cypermethrin and alginate in the nanocarriers, the FESEM suggests for heterogeneous morphology of the nanocarriers surfaces when pesticide is loaded. The TEM analysis reveals that the native alginate nanocarriers have dimensions in the range of 108-127 nm while encapsulation of cypermethrin changes their sizes to fall in the range of 115-119 nm which is also accompanied by change in their shape. The loading of pesticide also results in slight shift of surface potential of nanocarriers from -25 to -21 mV. The study showed that cypermethrin is well encapsulated (encapsulation efficiency approx 95% and cypermethrin loading approx 78%) within calcium alginate nanocarriers without any chemical deformation. The release of cypermethrin from calcium alginate nanocarriers was evaluated under varying experimental conditions. The mechanism of release of cypermethrin from alginate nanocarriers was found to follow non Fickian behavior i.e anomalous transport governed by diffusion and relaxation of the alginate chains. The whole study suggested that cypermethrin loaded calcium alginate nanocarriers could be a promising and safe candidate for sustained and slow release of cypermethrin and helpful in reducing the environment pollutions caused by excessive use of cypermethrin. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.