A multielement compound fertilizer used polydopamine and sodium carboxymethyl starch matrices as coatings

In this work, a multielement compound fertilizer (MCF) was fabricated using ammonium zinc phosphate (AZP) as kernel nutrient element, and polydopamine (Pdop) film as inner coating. Besides, sodium carboxymethyl starch (SCS) was proposed as a constituent in AZP@Pdop mixture due to its adhesion, gelling and swelling abilities, to prepare well dispersed suspensions and consolidate the single-coated fertilizer. What's more, iron (Fe), the vital microelement for the growth of crops and alleviating the leaf chlorosis, was chelated by the carboxylate groups of SCS, contributing to make the outer coating compact. The release behavior showed that zinc (Zn), phosphorus (P) and Fe reached 60% cumulative release in 30 days, and the use efficiency of nutrients for corn was about 60%. In summary, this work provides a novel approach to improve the utilization efficiency and prolong duration of the MCF, which might have a potential application in agronomics.