Electrical-Driven Release and Migration of Herbicide Using a Gel-Based Nanocomposite

In this work, an electrical-driven release and migration glyphosate (EDRMG) was fabricated using a nanocomposite made up of attapulgite (ATP), glyphosate (Gly), and calcium alginate (CA). Therein, ATP-CA acted as a nanonetwork-structured carrier to efficiently load plenty of Gly to form porous ATP-Gly-CA hydrogel spheres (actually EDRMG-0.5) via a cross-linking reaction. The pores in EDRMG-0.5 hydrogel spheres were enlarged under an electric field because of the Coulomb force of the anionic CA polymer, and the release of negatively charged Gly from the spheres could be driven by the electric field force. Thus, EDRMG-0.5 exhibited a great electroresponsively controlled-release property, which was confirmed by a pot experiment. Importantly, the EDRMG-0.5 hydrogel spheres had fine biocompatibility on fish and mice, displaying good biosafety. This work provides a low cost and promising approach to control Gly release, deliver Gly precisely, and improve utilization efficiency, which might have a high application value.