Surface Polyphenol Coordination Drives Efficient Foliar Deposition of Pesticide Nanocarriers

Pesticides play key roles in modern agricultural activities. Optimizing pesticide deposition is essential for maximizing utilization efficiency and minimizing unintended environmental impacts. While electrostatic, hydrogen, and covalent interactions have been extensively studied to modulate pesticide adhesion to leaf surfaces, the potential of metal coordination bonding to enhance foliar deposition remains largely unexplored. In our work, abamectin-loaded PLA nanospheres coated in tannic acid (TA) (Abam@PLA) via the metal chelating ability of polyphenols (Abam@PLA-TA) were developed to improve abamectin retention on the surfaces of leaves. The chemical properties and morphological features of Abam@PLA-TA were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and fluorescent imaging. The foliar retention of Abam@PLA-TA demonstrated that the tannic acid coating could significantly improve the adhesion ability and deposition efficiency of pesticides for crop leaves, which was mainly attributed to the hydrogen bonds between the polyphenols of TA and the polar groups of the wax layer. Moreover, Abam@PLA-TA exhibited better photostability capacity compared to the abamectin technical concentrate, which helps to protect light-sensitive pesticides from ultraviolet (UV) decomposition. This strategy opens up a simple but powerful avenue for the design of foliage adhesive systems and a new opportunity for the efficient utilization of pesticides.