Rapid synthesis of a corncob-based semi-interpenetrating polymer network slow-release nitrogen fertilizer by microwave irradiation to control water and nutrient losses

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This paper presents the rapid synthesis of a corncob-based semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) slow-release nitrogen fertilizer (SRFs) with bentonite additives via microwave irradiation at 320 W for 4.5 min. The SRFs were based on urea incorporated in a polymer matrix composed of corncob-g-poly(acrylic acid)/bentonite network and linear polyvinylpyrrolidone. The structure and properties of the sample were characterized. Swelling measurements and water-retention studies indicated that the water absorbency of the SRFs was 1156 g/g in distilled water and that the water-retention capacity of the soil with 2% SRFs was 20.3% after 30 days. In addition, the SRFs possessed lower N leaching loss amount (13.2%) and N migrate-to-surface loss amount (6.8%) compared with urea. The SRFs could effectively reduce the N release rate (56.6% of N was released after 30 days) and consequently facilitate the growth of cotton plants. Thus, the high-performance SRFs capable of controlling water and N losses could be widely applied to agricultural fields, and microwave irradiation could be a significant strategy to produce SRFs.