Nanopesticides in Brazilian Crops: Classes, Mechanisms, Efficacy, Risks, and Photocatalytic Remediation

Brazil leads tropical agriculture, yet annual yield losses from insect pests and concerns over water contamination, non-target impacts, and resistance sustain demand for safer, more efficient control tools. This review synthesizes advances in nanopesticides for Brazil’s major crops (soybean, sugarcane, coffee, and citrus) and is organized into five parts, comprising concepts and definitions; formulation families; modes of action; efficacy evidence from laboratory, greenhouse, and field studies; and environmental and human health risk considerations. Evidence indicates that nano-enabled delivery can increase on-target deposition, prolong residual activity, and match or exceed control at reduced active ingredient loads by improving foliar adhesion, transcuticular transport, plant uptake, and spatiotemporal targeting with pheromone-releasing nanofibers and other dispensers. Because nanoformulations can alter exposure pathways and environmental fate, this review emphasizes nano-specific physicochemical characterization under use conditions, fate and transport in Oxisols and Ultisols, and tropical waters, ecotoxicity panels that include pollinators, aquatic invertebrates, soil biota, and vertebrate surrogates, and scenario-based exposure assessment for applicators, residents, and consumers. The review closes with practical guidance for Brazil: head-to-head efficacy benchmarks against commercial standards, the standardized reporting of release and characterization data, and a nano-specific environmental risk assessment checklist to help realize efficacy gains while protecting environmental and human health.