The fundamental limitation with the use of current agroherbicides and pesticides is that they are

generally comprised of virtually insoluble compounds (Whitehouse and Rannard, 2010). This
lack of solubility requires the addition of large amounts of organic solvents to dissolve them, for
suitable efficacy and uniform application in the field. The necessity to use solvents increases
costs, environmental pollutants, and increased user exposure (Stackelberg et al., 2001).

In many applications, it is necessary to disperse the active ingredients (a.i.’s) of chemical

pesticides in a liquid phase, as this facilitates spraying application. By far the most convenient
liquid for applying pesticides is water, owing to its low cost, availability, and environmental
compatibility (Lawrence and Warisnoicharoen, 2006; Pratap and Bhowmick, 2008). However,
one of the main problems associated with many pesticides is that they are poorly soluble, or even
insoluble in water. thereby requiring much higher quantities to be applied to ensure that a
sufficient dose is present in all areas to control the target pest. Not only does this increase costs,
but it also increases the negative environmental and health impacts of the pesticide. These
significant problems can be addressed by using nanotechnology to reduce particle size of
pesticide materials to nano or colloidal scale, which substantially increases their water solubility,
dissolution rate, and uniform dispersion when applied. Furthermore, the production of nanosized
particles results in partially or fully amorphous products that are distinctly more soluble than
their crystalline equivalents (Hancock and Parks, 2000; Yu, 2001).

Nanotechnology is emerging as a highly attractive tool to achieve this goal, by

offering new methods for the formulation and delivery of pesticide active ingredients,
as well as novel active ingredients, collectively referred to as nanopesticides. In this
chapter, recent advancements in nanopesticide research are reviewed, which are
divided into several themes. The first theme concerns improvement of the water
solubility of poorly soluble pesticide active ingredients to improve bioavailability,
which involves formulation of the active ingredients into nanoemulsions and
dispersions. The second theme involves encapsulation of pesticide active ingredients
within permeable nanoparticles.

There is confidence that nanopesticides will address the main limitations of existing pest control
strategies and provide new advanced nano 194 Chapter 5 Nanopesticides: a review of current
research and perspectives based formulation that remain stable and active in the spray
environment (sun, heat, rain), penetrate the organism (fungus, insect), can be delivered to the
target, resist defense of the pest/ pathogen, remain benign to plants and mammals, be cost
effective to formulate and manufacture and preferably possess a new mode of action (Smith et
al., 2008).

Nanoscale particles can be defined as a subclass of ultrafine particle with characteristic

dimensions from 1 to 100 nm and have properties that are not shared by nonnanoscale particles
with the same chemical composition (Auffan et al., 2009).

increased solubility of water insoluble active ingredients, increased stability of formulation,

elimination of toxic organic solvents in comparison to conventionally used pesticides, providing
capability to slow release of active ingredients, improve stability and prevent their early
degradation, improve their mobility and higher insecticidal activity due to smaller particle size
and higher surface area, extend their longevity (Sasson et al., 2007). Increased mobility of
nanoparticles enables superior insecticidal activity through contact with the insect’s cuticle or
ingestion into the digestive tract (Sasson et al., 2007). Additionally, nanoparticles observed
penetration into plants (Boehm et al., 2003), uniform leaf coverage, and improved diffusion
properties to soil (Cameron and Mitchell, 2007) further promote their beneficial use in
agriculture

Hayles, J., Johnson, L., Worthley, C., & Losic, D. (2017). Nanopesticides: a review of current
research and perspectives. New Pesticides and Soil Sensors, 193–225. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-
804299-1.00006-0