A pesticide sustained-release microcapsule from cellulose nanocrystal stabilized Pickering emulsion template

Efficient utilization of pesticides has presented various advantages in the ecological environment, food safety, and agricultural sustainability. Pesticide microcapsule could significantly improve the pesticide utilization ratio, and thus, we prepared a sustained-release microcapsule from cellulose nanocrystal (CNCs) stabilized Pickering emulsion template. The NaCl was added to overcome the strong electrostatic repulsion among CNCs for forming a stable oil-in-water (O/W) CNCs-based Pickering emulsion template, followed by crosslinking with hexamethylene diisocyanate on the interface. UV–vis and zeta-potential were used to characterize the as-prepared Pickering emulsion, and the stability and emulsion fraction were calculated. Results indicated that NaCl contributed to the stability of Pickering emulsion, even at a low concentration. The obtained CNCs-based microcapsule was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TG-DTG, and three-phase contact angles. The microcapsule presented an encapsulation efficiency of 96.76% and sustained release of the imidacloprid for more than 82 h. Results indicated the potential for loading and sustained release of imidacloprid, which is beneficial to the environment, food, and agriculture.