Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring

& Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enmm

Synthesis and characterization of environmental friendly corncob biochar T

based nano-composite – A potential slow release nano-fertilizer for
sustainable agriculture
Ambreen Lateefa, Rabia Nazirb, , Nadia Jamila, Shahzad Alamc, Raza Shahd,
⁎

Muhammad Naeem Khanb, Murtaza Saleeme, Shafiq-ur- Rehmana

a
College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54500, Pakistan
b
Applied Chemistry Research Centre, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories Complex, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, 54500, Pakistan
c
Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories Complex, G-5/2, Islamabad, Pakistan
d
International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
e
Department of Physics, School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, 54500, Pakistan

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Use of agriculture waste to develop value-added products has helped in resolving the waste management con-
Corncob biochar cernsalong with addressing the cost-effectiveness issues. Utilization of bio-char derived from agriculture waste
Biochar based nano-composite back to the agriculture field marks the new strategy to improve crop yield and reduce environmental issues of
Macronutrients conventional fertilizers. In addition to that it helps in improving soil condition by balancing the soil organic
Micronutrients
carbon, pH, water holding capacity and soil ion exchange potential. The present research work is based on the
Impregnation
Slow release fertilizer
development of nano-composite based on biochar derived from corn cob and to check the suitability of corncob
biochar(CB) as support material for providing macro and micro-nutrients to the plants on slow release
basis.CBand its nano-composite (BNC) were synthesized by pyrolysis and simple impregnation method, re-
spectively and characterized by FT-IR,SEM/EDX, powder XRD,AFMand TGA/DSC. Proximate analysis and
physical properties were also examined by standard procedures whilestudies on water retention, water absor-
bance, swelling ratio and equilibrium water content of pointed to increased values of BNC as compared to CB.
Slow release studies indicated release pattern of nutrients for prolonged period which is helpful in improving
plant growth and yield. The experimental results indicated that the synthesized nano-composite is eco-friendly
material and can be used as slow release fertilizer for sustainable agriculture.

1. Introduction
Agriculture is now-a-days greatly impacted by climatic change issue
which is aggregated by global warming, urbanization and unbalanced
use of resources and environmental problems like eutrophication and
run off, related to use of conventional fertilizers. These problems are
increasing day by day with rapid increase in population which is esti-
mated to be reached 9.6 billion by the year 2050 (DeSA, 2013). In
addition to that use of conventional fertilizer leads to huge economic
losses because of leaching issues (40–70%) which is critical for the
developing countries where agriculture is backbone of the economy
(Ditta and Arshad, 2016).To combat with this situation, there is need to
introduce new fertilizers which provide nutrients to plants slowly
thereby reducing nutrient loss and promoting enhanced crop yield (Liu

Abbreviations: AFM, atomic force microscopy; BNC, biochar based nano-composite; CEC, cation exchange capacity; CB, corncob biochar; DSC, differential scanning
calorimetry; EDX, Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy; EWC, equilibrium water content; FT-IR, fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy; SI, salt index; SR, swelling
ratio; SRF, slow release fertilizer; SEM, scanning electron microscope; TGA, thermal gravimetric analysis; TDS, total dissolved solids; TH, total hardness; WR, water
retention; WA, water absorbance; XRD, X-ray diffraction
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: rabiapcsir@yahoo.com (R. Nazir).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2019.100212
Received 18 April 2018; Received in revised form 27 January 2019; Accepted 15 February 2019
2215-1532/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A. Lateef, et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Table 1 nutrient loss and improve crop production. This research work focus on
Analysis of Tap Water. the synthesis of biochar based slow release ecofriendly fertilizer on
Parameters Results nano-scale with aim to make use of its porous structure to incorporate
both macro and micro nutrients that can be made available to crops and
pH 7.6 soil on slow release basis. This approach will not only help in waste
Conductivity (μs cm−1) at 25°C 288.50
reduction and management but will also aid pollution prevention by
TDS (mg L−1) 418.5
TH (mg L−1) 0.69
conversion of waste into value added product and resolving the
Na1+ (mg L−1) 1.98 leaching issues of conventional fertilizers. This will hence help in mi-
Cl1− (mg L-1) 16.69 tigating the environmental problems and provision of nutrients to
K1+ (mg L−1) 1.08 plants to promote enhanced yield.
Ca2+ (mg L−1) 0.38
Zn2+ (mg L−1) 0.08
Mg2+ (mg L−1) 0.35 2. Experimental
PO43− (mg L−1) 1.96
NO31− (mg L−1) 1.2 2.1. Chemicals

Analytical grade Magnesium sulphateheptahydrate (MgSO4·7H2O)

and Sodium phosphate monobasic dihydrate (NaH2PO4·2H2O) were
purchased from Merck, Germany. Calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2), so-
Table 2 dium hydroxide (NaOH), zinc sulphateheptahydrate (ZnSO4·7H2 O),
Proximate and Physical Analysis of CB and BNC. and potassium chloride (KCl) were taken from DAEJUNG. Hydrochloric
Parameters CB BNC acid (HCl), sodium chloride (NaCl), ferrous chloride tetrahydrate
(FeCl2·4H2O), sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and nitric acid (HNO3) were
M.C (%) 8.46 6.79 provided by Sigma-Aldrich.
Ash content (%) 3.61 4.49
VOM (%) 8.6 9.5
Fixed Carbon 79.33 79.22
2.2. Synthesis of biochar based nano-composite (BNC)
pH 8.46 6.79
Conductivity (μS cm−1) 1843.46 1856.6 BNC was synthesized in two steps; in first step biochar was prepared
MB value 80 85 and in second step it was impregnated with micro and macro nutrients.
Bulk density(mg m3(−1)) 0.27 0.31
Tap density (mg m3(−1)) 1.8 2.1
CEC (meq g−1) 148 197 2.2.1. Synthesis of corncob biochar (CB)
Corncob Biochar (CB) was prepared by simple pyrolysis process.
Abbreviations: M.C= Moisture Content, VOM=Volatile Organic Matter, MB= Corncobs were procured from local vendor, washed, dried in open air
Methylene Blue, CEC= Cation Exchange Capacity. and crushed. The crushed corncobs were put in reactor to slow burn at
300–400 °C for 6 h with continues supply of nitrogen at the rate of 1 L
hr−1. After burning, biochar was allowed to cool keeping nitrogen
and Lal, 2015). Considering this aspect different types of slow release supply intact. The resulting biochar was grinded in homogenizer and
nano-fertilizers have been synthesized e.g. polymer coated or en- sieved using 100 mesh sieve. The sieved material was then stored in a
capsulated materials(Guo et al., 2005; Costa et al., 2013), zeolite based zipped plastic bag.
(Bansiwal et al., 2006; Lateef et al., 2016) and biochar based (Xie et al.,
2011; Ding et al., 2016). Among these zeolite and biochar based are 2.2.2. Synthesis of biochar based nano-composite (BNC)
preferred because they are derived from natural sources making them The biochar based nano-composite (BNC) was prepared by im-
environmental friendly (Colella, 1999; Hunt et al., 2010; Ramesh et al., pregnation of nutrients in CB by using same approach as mentioned in
2011; Xie et al., 2015). earlier study (Lateef et al., 2016). CB (200 g) suspension was prepared
Biochar, a carbon-rich black colored material (Sohi, 2012), pro- in 1 L distilled water with subsequent addition of 5% solution of mix
duced from different feed stocks like crop residues, grasses, woody salts of macro (N, Ca, P, K, Mg) and micro-nutrients (Na, Zn, Fe). The
biomass, manure and agriculture waste (wheat straw, rice husk, corn contents were stirred for 3 h to allow maximum adsorption of all added
cobs etc.). This material is generated in millions of tons as waste every nutrients into pores of CB. The material hence obtained was filtered,
year (Azubuike and Okhamafe, 2012), by different processes including dried in oven at 105 °C and grinded. The prepared BNC was kept in air-
carbonization or slow pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis, flash carbonization and tight jar for further use.
gasification (Gaunt and Lehmann, 2008). The increasing concern in
biochar has unlocked new areas for science and engineering applica- 2.3. Characterization
tions. Recent studies have shown the importance of biochar as soil
conditioner to improve crop yield and quality and stores carbon in the 2.3.1. Proximate and physical analysis
form of carbonaceous material to mitigate global warming (Chan et al., Proximate analysis consists of moisture content (ASTM E871-82),
2008; Whitman et al., 2011; Mao et al., 2012; Khare and Goyal, 2013; ash (ASTM D1102-84), volatile organic matter (ASTM E872-82) and
Pereira et al., 2015). fixed carbon calculated by difference. Other physical properties i.e. pH
Biochar impregnated with different materials like urea (Khan et al., (ASTM D4959-00), cation exchange capacity (ASTM-9080), bulk and
2008; Xie et al., 2011), ammonium salts (Spokas et al., 2012), phos- tap densities (ASTM D2854-70), conductivity (ASTM D1125-14), and
phates (Xu et al., 2014)and nitrates (Hale et al., 2013; Kammann et al., methylene blue value (ASTM C1777-15) of CB and BNC were con-
2015) was used to synthesis slow or control release fertilizer to mitigate ducted.

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A. Lateef, et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Fig. 1. FT-IR spectra of CB (A) and BNC (B) representing shifting of peaks in BNC, which affirms the adsorption of nutrients.

The material was characterized by different techniques comprising conductivities (He et al., 2007).
FT-IR (Thermo Nicolet spectrometer) to access the organic moieties
present, powder XRD (PANanalyticalX’pert pro diffractometer via a
Philips X-ray generator) to determine phase and crystallinity, SEM/EDX 2.3.3. Swelling Ratio (SR) and Equilibrium water content (EWC)
(Nova NanoSEM 450 and EDX, Nova 450 at 5.00 kV) to define mor- 1.0 g of CB and BNC was submerged in 200 mL of distilled water
phology and elemental composition samples, AFM (AFM 5500 Agilant, separately for 24 h to swell and then filtered. Calculate SR and EWC
USA) to obtain particle size and topography and TGA ((SDT- Q600, using Eqs. 1 and 2, respectively (He et al., 2007).
Germany) to check thermal stability. Ws Wd
SR =
Wd (1)
2.3.2. Salt Index (SI)
Take 1.0 g each of BNC and sodium nitrate (NaNO3) in separate Ws Wd
beakers and add 200 mL of distilled water. Conductivities of both the EWC (%) = × 100
Ws (2)
solutions were measured by conductivity meter model CM-40S TOA
after 24 h. The value of SI was calculated, as ratio of these Where, Wd and Ws are the dry and wet weights of CB or BNC.

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A. Lateef, et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Fig. 2. Powder XRD Diffracto-gram of CB (A) and BNC (B).

2.3.4. Water absorbance studies (WC) studies which were analyzed previously (Table 1) to set blank reading.
Water absorbance studies were conducted, by taking 1.0 g of CB and First studies of slow release of nutrients in water from BNC were
BNC (W1) in petri-plates which were previously weighted (W2). These performed for 7 days. The experiment employed glass column (30 ̋ ×
petri-plates were placed for 5 days in desiccator filled with water to 0.5 ̋ ) containing 5.0 g of BNC and tap water which volume was main-
create moist environment. The petri-plates were weighted again (W3) to tained at 50 mL mark during the whole experiment. 25 mL of water was
measure water absorption capacity of sample using Eq. 3(Hamid et al., draw from column on daily basis after every 24 h for 7 days to monitor
2013). the leakage of nutrients (Jamnongkan and Kaewpirom, 2010).
Second studies were conducted for 14 days in soil (400 g) + BNC
(W3 W2 )
WC = × 100 (10 g) filled glass column (62 ̋ × 5 ̋ ) to which 180 mL of tap water was
W1 (3)
added to soak the soil. Withdrawal of 50 mL water was done for 14 days
and after that 100 mL water added to maintain moisture level in
2.3.5. Water retention studies (WR) column. Water samples collected from column were analyzed to
Water retention studies (WR) were conducted in pre-weighted cups, monitor the release behavior of nutrients in soil from nano-composite.
add 50.0 g of sieved soil in cup A (weighed as WA) as control or blank Under similar conditions 400 g of soil was also run to monitor leaching
and in cup B (weighed as WB) add 2.0 g of BNC + 50 g soil. Add 30 mL from soil only (Kottegoda et al., 2011).
of distilled water in both cups, allowed to seep and reweighed (as WA1 The water samples collected were analyzed for NO31− by Ion
and WB1) after 24 h. The cups were then retained in a glass box, Selective Electrode 930, PO43- by UV Visible Spectrophotometer,
weighted as WA2 and WB2 on daily basis for 30 days (Hassan and (Na1+and K1+) by Flame Photometer Tenway PSP7 and metals (Zn2+,
Mahmoud, 2015). Water retention was calculated using Eq. 4. Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+/3) by Perkin Elmer Flame Atomic Absorption
W2 Spectrometer (FAAS).
WR%= × 100
W1 (4)
2.4. Statistical analysis

2.3.6. Slow release studies Data was explored and processed using MS Excel and Origin-Pro 8.
Slow release studies were done in 1) tap water and 2) soil, to Data is reported as average of three replications and in case of slow
monitor the nutrient leaching pattern. Tap water was used in both release studies, readings were adjusted for blank.

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A. Lateef, et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Fig. 3. SEM images of CB and BNC at resolutions of 5 μm (A & B), 1 μm (C & D) and 500 nm (E & F), respectively, showing porous structure of CB while white color
represents the impregnation of nutrients.

3. Results and discussion
The research work describes a simple process to synthesize BNC
using impregnation method, to incorporate macro and micro nutrients
onto CB.
3.1. Synthesis of BNC
Pyrolysis approach was followed to prepare CB, which was used as
support material for macro and micro nutrients to result in BNC. CB has
a porous structure (Budai et al., 2014) which supports and facilitates
the impregnation of nutrients. Earlier studies had also shown potential
of biochar to store nutrients by either chemisorption and/or physio-
sorption (Ding et al., 2016). Therefore, this property of biochar can be
exploited to use this as slow release fertilizer as it not only improves soil
quality but also ensures the availability of nutrients, for prolonged
period of time to plants.

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A. Lateef, et al.
Fig. 4. Elemental analysis of CB (A) and BNC (B) represents the detailed composition of micro and macro nutrients.
3.2. Characterization
3.2.1. Proximate and physical parameters
The proximate and physical analyses were performed to determine
moisture content, ash, VOM, fixed carbon, pH, conductivity, MB value,
bulk and tap densities, and CEC for CB and BNC; the results are pre-
sented in Table 2. Moisture content, ash, VOM and fixed carbon values
of CB and BNC calculated in current case (Table 2) are in accordance
with the previous works; the small changes were usually observed
owing to differences in process temperature, conditions and feedstock
material (Mukome et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2014; Zornoza et al., 2016).
There was a slight decrease in pH of CB after composite formation
shifting from slightly alkaline (8.46) value to nearly neutral pH i.e. 6.79
which makes it suitable for agriculture use (Dume et al., 2016). Mar-
ginal increase in conductivity of BNC from 1843.46 to 1856.62 μS cm−1
supported the fact of metals/ metal salts incorporation into the BNC
structure. This absorption of salts, also gave rise to both tap and bulk
densities. BNC had MB value (65) which was lower in comparison to CB
(80), indicating adsorption of metals into CB structure. CB had cation
exchange capacity (CEC) of 149 meq 100g−1 while BNC had 197 meq
100g−1 which is in line with previous studies (Sasai et al., 2004).
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Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212
3.2.2. Fourier transform - infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR)
Comparison of FT-IR spectra of CB and BNC (presented in Fig. 1)
showed peaks in range of 3600-3400 cm−1 due to stretching of hy-
droxyl bond (eOH), which might be due to moisture content as it was
confirmed by physical parameters. Peaks arising at 1591 cm-1 re-
presented stretching of aromatic ring (C]C), and the peaks at 1230,
1162 and 1035 cm−1 corresponded to vibrations and stretching of C]
O bond (Mukome et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2014; Zornoza et al., 2016).
Peak shifting occurring in case of BNC to 1597, 1154 and 1034 cm−1
positions affirmed incorporation of nutrients in CB structure
(Nurhidayati and Mariati, 2014).
3.2.3. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD)
Powder XRD diffracto-gram of CB and BNC scanned in range of 2θ
= 5 −80°, presented in Fig. 2, depicted that material has high carbon
content as in (Fig. 2A) with low intensity peaks arising at 2θ values of
26.62°, 42.82°, 49.99° and 61.59° as in literature(Yu et al., 2014;
Zornoza et al., 2016). The BNC diffracto-gram (Fig. 2B), when com-
pared with CB characterizes that basic structure of CB remains same, a
slight phase change was observed in intensities because of nutrient
adsorption into CB.
A. Lateef, et al.
Fig. 5. 2D (A) and 3D (B) AFM images of BNC indicating formation of nano sized composite.
3.2.4. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDX) and atomic force spectroscopy (AFM)
SEM gives information about morphology of synthesized samples
(CB and BNC). The images of CB and BNC (Fig. 3) taken at different
resolutions of 5 μm (A and B), 1 μm (C and D) and 500 nm (E and F)
represented the porous structure of CB. This porous structure augments
the surface area and hence can enhance the adsorption capacity of CB
by providing more sites for chemical reactions (Lehmann, 2007;
Yuet al., 2014), as indicated by high MB value of BNC. The factors like
pyrolysis temperature and conditions depicted the final composition of
biochar in addition to its source (Spokas, 2010). White color coating on
the surface of CB represented the doping of salts into CB as shown in
Fig. 3B.
Elemental analysis of CB and BNC was conducted by EDX (Fig. 4)
which confirmed the impregnation of both macro and micro nutrients
into the BNC structure. The variation in this wt. % can be attributed to
affinity of these ions with the carbon structure and organic moieties
presents as suggested by FT-IR (Fig.1). AFM is used to measure the
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Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212
particle size of BNC from two and three dimensional images as in Fig. 5
which confirms the formation of nano-sized material having average
particle size of 55.9 nm (Fig. 5B). The AFM image (Fig. 5A) also points
to the regular spherical shape of the particles and narrow particle size
distribution in the prepared nano-composite; giving assurance about
the feasibility of synthetic protocol to result in particles with less dis-
tribution in particle size.
3.2.5. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA)
Thermal stability of prepared samples (CB and BNC) was de-
termined by TGA/DSC analysis. The interlinked spectra of TGA and DSC
are presented in Figs. 6 and 7. The thermogram of CB (Fig. 6) was
characterized by steady weight loss with three non-distinctive steps
after which constant decrease in weight was observed. The first peak at
147.52 °C (Wt. loss 94.54%) was probably due to loss of moisture, as
affirmed by the proximate analysis while second (335.13 °C; wt. loss
82.63%) and third peak (481.25 °C; wt. loss 63.85%) accounted to
pyrolytic decomposition stage, where maximum mass loss occurred due
A. Lateef, et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Fig. 6. TGA thermogram (black line) and DSC curve (blue line) depictingthermal stability of CB.

Fig. 7. TGA thermogram (black line) and DSC curve (blue line) describingthermal stability of BNC.

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Table 3 injury. When compared with acceptable tolerable range of SI i.e. 2

General properties of the prepared samples as applicability for the slow re- mmhos cc−1 (in terms of conductivity; reference to NaNO3 taken as
lease fertilizer. 100), the BNC value came out to be much lower (0.08 mmhos cc−1)
Properties CB BNC making it suitable for plant use and consequently for sustainable agri-
culture (Gowariker et al., 2009). Higher values of SI in fertilizer are
SI 0.03 0.07 known to cause damage to plants and lead to less crop yield.
WA (%) 64 68
SR (g. g−1) 3.56 4.66
EWC (%) 78.07 82.33 3.2.7. Water absorbance (WA), swelling ratio (SR) and equilibrium water
content (EWC)
Abbrevations: SI = Salt Index, WA = Water absorbance, SR = Swelling ratio, The results of experiment for CB and BNC are given in Table 3 from
EWC = Equilibrium water content. which it can be observed that there was a small increase in the values of
WA, SR and EWC as compared to pure biochar. In general CB are
characterized to have highly porous structure (Shariff et al., 2016) that
can physically adsorb water to be later on released to soil or plants
especially in arid areas (Liu et al., 2014; Baiamonte et al., 2015; Ding
et al., 2016).

3.2.8. Water retention (WR)

The graph of WR in Fig. 8 displayed water holding capacity of the
control (i.e. soil without BNC – S1) and experimental sample (i.e. soil
mixed with BNC – S2). Usually WR decreases with time as was the case
in both S1 and S2. But S2 had higher WR capacity throughout the ex-
perimental span of 20 days. The S2 and S1 had WR capacity of 93.78
and 76.33; 76.08 and 67.17 and 62.03 and 55.5% on 2nd, 10th and 20th
day, respectively. The rate of water retained, S1 was less than the S2
designated higher water retention capacity of BNC. The retention of
water helps in providing water to soil and subsequently to plants
(Dugan et al., 2010).

3.2.9. Slow release studies

Fig. 8. Plot of water retention (WR) capacity indicating higher value of S2 (soil
with BNC) as compared to control S1 (soil without BNC).
to emission of gases (like CO2, CO and CH4) and decomposition of or-
ganic compounds (Neves et al., 2011). After this stage a constant but
slow decline in the spectra was observed which resulted in 50.59%
residue. This steady weight loss usually occurred in the carbonization
stage, where thermal decomposition of solid matter (char and inorganic
matter) took place leading to conversion of biomass to solid biochar
which had stable carbon (Liu et al., 2014; Yu et al., 2014). Almost same
trend of degradation was observed in BNC thermogram (Fig. 7) with
slight changes at peaks (159.04 °C, wt. 96.37%; 321.14 °C, wt. 83.89%;
451.91 °C, wt. 64.84% and 978.71 °C, wt. 42.66%) compared with CB,
represented the incorporation of doped salts. In short, thermal studies
demonstrated the thermally stable nature of both CB and BNC. DSC
curve also indicated the similar trend with continual change in energy
referring to exothermic loss which was in accordance with earlier
findings (Shang et al., 2015).
3.2.6. Salt index (SI)
SI measures the probability of synthesized fertilizer to cause plant
Slow release pattern of synthesized BNC was studied in both tap
water (Fig. 9) and soil (Fig. 10), separately to monitor the release be-
havior of nutrients. The experiments were conducted in set of three for
replication. The data was averaged out and represented as percentage
of the total nutrients in BNC (Fig. 4). The results helped in interpreting
the release behavior of specific nutrients which then assist in selection
of suitable fertilizer for crops (Li, 2003; Manikandan and Subramanian,
2015).
Seven days release studies were conducted in tap water that was
previously analyzed (Table 1).Release of nutrients from BNC can be
influenced greatly by pore size, binding capacity of ions and adsorption
level (Manyà, 2012). From the studies, it was obvious that for all the
nutrients i.e. macro (NO31−, P2O5, K2O, Mg2+, Ca2+) and micro (Fe2+/
3+
, Zn2+, Na2O) (Fig. 9), the release was faster at the beginning of
study which gradually declined to almost constant value at the end of
experiment. This kind of behavior is in line with the nutrient con-
sumption pattern of the plants which require larger uptake in early
growing stages and after the germination the constant supply of nu-
trients is required to accomplish later growth staged of plant.
The nutrient release studies in soil was carried out for 14 days
(Fig. 10) presented same trend as determined in tap water studies apart
from that release of nutrients was slightly faster than in water. The
release of nutrients (Mg2+, Ca2+, Fe2+/3+, Zn2+, Na2O, K2O) till 5th
day was slow then gradually increased till 14th day while in case of
NO31− and P2O5 the release was faster till 5th day then became stable.
Biochar has high nitrate adsorption capacity (Ding et al., 2016) and low
for independent P, so P can be enhance by some organic matter or by

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A. Lateef, et al.
Fig. 9. Release pattern of nutrients (Fe2+/3+, Zn2+, Ca2+,Mg2+,NO31−, Na2O,P2O5 and K2O) for 7 days in tap water.
available cations in soil (Xu et al., 2014). The trends observed can help
in continues supply of nutrients to plants as per their requirement and
prevented leakage of nutrients, when compared to conventional ferti-
lizers (Costa et al., 2013). CB absorbs nutrients because of its high
surface area and porosity and physiochemical binding that ensures re-
duced leaching of nutrients (Steiner et al., 2008) thereby facilitating
enhanced plant growth (Hunt et al., 2010). All these reasons favor the
use of biochar for enhancing soil fertility and increasing plant growth.
Thus, initially the nutrients supplied by the BNC can enhance the seed
germination which ultimately improves the plant growth and yield.
4. Conclusion
CB, synthesized from agriculture waste by pyrolysis process was
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Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212
impregnated with macro and micro nutrients to prepare
nanocomposite,BNC, having neutral pH and spongy structure of
55.9 nmas indicated by SEM and AFM while EDX analysis confirmed
the adsorption of nutrients.Results of salt index, slow release column
studies, water absorbance and retention studies indicated that BNC has
great potential to be used as nano-fertilizer. BNC can not only enhance
the plant growth by providing nutrients for prolong period of time,
improvingsoil fertility and also mitigating environmental issues of
global warming and land contamination that arises due to volatilization
and leaching of nutrients from conventional fertilizers. Hence, synthe-
sized BNC can be considered as economical, viable and ecofriendly
material for sustainable agriculture.
A. Lateef, et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 11 (2019) 100212

Fig. 10. Release pattern of nutrients (Fe2+/3+, Zn2+, Ca2+,Mg2+,NO31−, Na2O,P2O5 and K2O) for 14 days in soil.

Acknowledgment Ding, Y., Liu, Y., Liu, S., Li, Z., Tan, X., Huang, X., Zeng, G., Zhou, L., Zheng, B., 2016.
Biochar to improve soil fertility. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 36, 1–18.
Ditta, A., Arshad, M., 2016. Applications and perspectives of using nanomaterials for
Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan provides the fi- sustainable plant nutrition. Nanotechnol. Rev. 5, 209–229.
nancial support for research work Under Indigenous PhD Fellowship for Dugan, E., Verhoef, A., Robinson, S., Sohi, S., 2010. . Bio-char from sawdust, maize stover
5000 Scholars, Phase – II is significantly acknowledged. and charcoal: impact on water holding capacities (WHC) of three soils from Ghana.
19th World Congress of Soil Science, Symposium. pp. 9–12.
Dume, B., Ayele, D., Regassa, A., Barecha, G., 2016. Interactive Effects of Biochar in Soil
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