Poloxamer‐Enabled Thermoresponsive Biobased Controlled‐Release Fertilizer for On‐Demand Nutrient Delivery
ABSTRACT Synchronizing nutrient release of fertilizers with crop uptake remains a central challenge in precision agriculture. Here, we present a novel temperature‐responsive biobased controlled‐release fertilizer (TRBFs) incorporating Poloxamer 407 (F127) as a thermal switch within a castor oil‐derived polyurethane coating. The optimized TRBF10 (3 wt.% coating rate, 10 wt.% F127 in coating) exhibits a sharp, reversible phase transition at ∼20°C, matching the phenological requirements of overwintering crops. As quantified by digital refractometry, the 30‐day cumulative nitrogen release is suppressed to 9.22% at 10°C (crop dormancy) and increases 8.7‐fold to 80.32% at 30°C (active growth). This scalable technology overcomes intrinsic limitations of conventional diffusion‐controlled coated fertilizers and offers potential for on‐demand nutrient delivery with reduced environmental loss. Our work establishes sustainable strategies for climate‐adaptive precision agriculture and offers new insights and design paradigms for intelligent controlled‐release materials.
Authors
- Shugang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1428-9082)
- Yuechao Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4045-0252)
- Bin Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3769-0191)
- Fengyan Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0081-4796)
- Li J (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8760-1365)
- Boning Su
- Xiangjie Zhao
- Songyuan Wang
- Ziyao Li
- Yuanyuan Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7439-2970)
- Yan Liu
- Jiahui Liu
Institutions
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (US)
- Soil and Fertilizer Institute of Hunan Province (CN)
- Shandong Agricultural University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2026-10-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.78371
- Primary Topic
- Polymer-Based Agricultural Enhancements
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00