The global food supply heavily depends on utilizing fertilizers to meet production goals. The adverse impacts of traditional fertilization practices on the environment have necessitated the exploration of new alternatives in the form of smart fertilizer technologies (SFTs). This review seeks to categorize SFTs, which are slow and controlled-release Fertilizers (SCRFs), nano fertilizers, and biological fertilizers, and describes their operational principles. It examines the environmental implications of conventional fertilizers and outlines the attributes of SFTs that effectively address these concerns. The findings demonstrate a pronounced environmental advantage of SFTs, including enhanced crop yields, minimized nutrient loss, improved nutrient use efficiency, and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nevertheless, amidst these benefits, the challenges and constraints associated with these technologies, such as production expenses and potential environmental impacts of specific components, are also discussed. A comparative assessment of these SFTs emphasizes the importance of a balanced approach, considering three crucial factors: efficiency, environmental safety, and cost-effectiveness. While no single SFT achieves optimal balance across these dimensions, integrating multiple fertilizer technologies may help mitigate individual drawbacks. Also, financial and cost-to-benefit analyses are essential to gauge their applicability across diverse cropping environments. Future perspectives shed light on emerging SFTs and innovative approaches to overcome prevailing challenges and cultivate a more impactful role in fostering sustainable agriculture
In the present study waste aluminium cans were recycled and converted to produce alumina catalyst. These cans contain more than 98% aluminum oxide in their structure and were successfully synthesized to produce nano sized gamma alumina under mild conditions. A comprehensive study was carried out in order to examine the effect of several important parameters on maximum yield of alumina that can be produced. These parameters were reactants mole ratios (1.5, 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5), sodium hydroxide concentrations (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 55%) and weights of aluminum cans (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g). The compositions of alumina solution were determined by Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS); and maximum yield of alumina solution was 96.3% obtain
... Show MoreTitanium oxide nanoparticles-modified smectite (SMC-nTiO2) as a low-cost adsorbent was investigated for the removal of Rhodamine B (RhB) from aqueous solutions. The adsorbents (SMC and SMC-nTiO2) were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The effects of various parameters like contact time, adsorbent weight, pH, and temperatures were examined. Three kinetic equations (pseudo-first-order (PFO), pseudo-second-order (PSO), and intra-particle diffusion) were used to evaluate the experimental kinetic of the data and the results showed that the adsorption process is in line with the PSO kinetic model. Adsorption equilibrium isotherms were modeled using La
... Show MoreIn the present study, chitosan Schiff base has been prepared from chitosan reaction with p-chloro benzaldehyde. The AuNPs and AgNPs were manufactured by extract of onion peels as a reducing agent. The AuNPs and AgNPs that have been synthesized were characterized through UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD analyses and SEM microscopy. The polymer blends of the chitosan / PEG has been prepared by using the approach of solution casting. Chitosan Schiff base / PEG Au and Ag nanocomposites were synthesized, nanocomposites and polymer blends have been characterized by FTIR which confirm the formation of Schiff base by revealing a new band of absorption at 1693 cm-1 as a result of the (C=N) imine group. FESEM, DSC and TGA confirm the thermal stability
... Show MoreIn this research, damping properties for composite materials were evaluated using logarithmic decrement method to study the effect of reinforcements on the damping ratio of the epoxy matrix. Three stages of composites were prepared in this research. The first stage included preparing binary blends of epoxy (EP) and different weight percentages of polysulfide rubber (PSR) (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%). It was found that the weight percentage 5% of polysulfide was the best percentage, which gives the best mechanical properties for the blend matrix. The advantage of this blend matrix is that; it mediates between the brittle properties of epoxy and the flexible properties of a blend matrix with the highest percentage of PSR. The second stage
... Show MoreAb – initio density function theory (DFT) calculations coupled with Large Unit Cell (LUC) method were carried out to evaluate the electronic structure properties of III-V zinc blend (GaAs). The nano – scale that have dimension (1.56-2.04)nm. The Gaussian 03 computational packages has been employed through out this study to compute the electronic properties include lattice constant, energy gap, valence and conduction band width, total energy, cohesive energy and density of state etc. Results show that the total energy and energy gap are decreasing with increase the size of nano crystal . Results revealed that electronic properties converge to some limit as the size of LUC increase .
The wear behavior of alumina particulate reinforced A332 aluminium alloy composites produced by a stir casting process technique were investigated. A pin-on-disc type apparatus was employed for determining the sliding wear rate in composite samples at different grain size (1 µm, 12µm, 50 nm) and different weight percentage (0.05-0.1-0.5-1) wt% of alumina respectively. Mechanical properties characterization which strongly depends on microstructure properties of reinforcement revealed that the presence of ( nano , micro) alumina particulates lead to simultaneous increase in hardness, ultimate tensile stress (UTS), wear resistances. The results revealed that UTS, Hardness, Wear resistances increases with the increase in the percentage of
... Show MoreIn this work, 332 Al alloy was prepared and reinforced with (0.5% and 1%) nano-Al2O3 particles. The prepared unreinforced and reinforced 332 Al alloy with nano-Al2O3 were solution heat treated (T6) at 510 ̊C and aged at 225 ̊C with different times (1, 3, and 5 h). Hardness test was performed on all the prepared alloys. All prepared alloys were dry slided under different applied loads (5, 10, 15, and 20 N) against steel counterface surface using pin on disk apparatus. The results showed that refinement effect was observed after addition of nano-Al2O3 particles and a change in silicon morphology after performing the solution heat treatment. The results also showed that har
... Show MoreConducting polyaniline / ZnO nano composites are synthesized
using a simplified cheap method with one step in –situ chemical
polymerization, and AC conductivity (σac) of the prepared samples is
studied in the range of frequency from 50 Hz to 15MHz.). The
presence of polarons in the conjugated polymer chain are responsible
for the ac conductivity is reliance on the frequency in these
composites. The effect of increasing the ZnO nano particle
concentration irradiation and gamma radiation on the electric
conductivity was analyzed. The result showed that the
nanocomposite prepared has the highest conductivity, from pure
polyaniline and the exponential factor S was found increasing with
ZnO content it was 0
Sludge from stone-cutting (SSC) factories and stone mines cannot be used as decorative stones, stone powder, etc. These substances are left in the environment and cause environmental problems. This study aim is to produce artificial stone composite (ASC) using sludge from stone cutting factories, cement, unsaturated resin, water, silicon carbide nanoparticles (SiC-NPs), and nano-graphene oxide (NGO) as fillers. Nano graphene oxide has a hydrophobic plate structure that water is not absorbed due to the lack of surface tension on these plates. NGO has a significant effect on the properties of artificial stone due to its high specific surface area and low density in the composite. Its uniform distribution in ASC is very low due to its hydropho
... Show MoreN-type Tin dioxide thin films with thickness (350 nm) prepared by thermal evaporation method. The thin film SnO2 was doped with Ag by the rate (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03). Atomic Force Microscopic (AFM) was adopted to determine the grain size and roughness of the film surface. The electrical properties were determined by mean of Hall Measurement system and mobility was calculated. SnO2: Ag/P–Si photodetectors demonstration the highest described visible responsivity of (0.287 A/W) with the Ag ratio of (0.03). I–V characteristics with different power density were measured. The best sensitive value of the spectral response, specific detectivity and quantum efficiency at wavelength (422 nm).