Synthesis and characterisation of zinc hydroxides nitrates-sodium dodecyl sulphate fluazinam nano hosts for release properties

A new nano host-fungicide, namely zinc hydroxide nitrate-sodium dodecyl sulphate-fluazinam (ZHN-SDS-FZ) was successfully synthesised using an ion exchange method. The intercalation of fluazinam (FZ) in the interlayer gallery of ZHN-SDS was confirmed by PXRD pattern with the basal spacing of 32.7 angstrom. The FTIR confirmed that FZ exist in the interlayer gallery. The elemental analysis also supported the presence of FZ in the interlayer ZHN-SDS where the percentages of nitrogen, which contributed by FZ was 65.6%. Meanwhile, the percentages of Zn in the nano host-fungicides was estimated to be 11.5%. Furthermore, TGA/DTG pattern showed that the nano host-fungicide ZHN-SDS-FZ has better thermal stability compared to pure FZ. The intercalation of FZ leads to the change of morphology, surface area and also the porosity. The classification of porosity of ZHN-SDS is mesoporous, meanwhile ZHN-SDS-FZ is non-porous. The BET-BJH surface area shows that ZHN-SDS and ZHN-SDS-FZ is of Type IV and Type III respectively. The controlled release of FZ from the ZHN-SDS-FZ nano host showed that phosphate and carbonate solutions yield the higher percentages of release compared to chloride solutions. The controlled release of FZ was found to be governed by a pseudo-second order mechanism for all medium. In this research, FZ can act as a good guest anion to be intercalated in the interlayer ZHN-SDS to be further used in agricultural sector due to the slowest release of FZ in the phosphate, carbonate and chloride solutions as a release medium.