Hydrophobic octadecylamine-polyphenol film coated slow released urea via one-step spraying co-deposition

Abstract Polymer coated fertilizer has been designed for gradual release of nutritional content of fertilizer to improve the utilization efficiency. However, the better slow release property of the coated fertilizer and simplified preparation process are still a huge challenge. The hydrophobic ODA-polyphenol film coated urea was prepared by one-step spraying for excellent nutrient release performance. Octadecylamine (ODA) was used to modify poly(tannic acid) (PTA) and poly(pyrogallol) (PPG) coating on substrates and prepare the hydrophobic ODA-PTA and ODA-PPG coated urea granules. The nutrient release rate of ODA-PTA and ODA-PPG coated fertilizers was much slower than PTA and PPG coated fertilizers in water and soil. The N release longevities of ODA-PTA coated fertilizers will be extended from 2 h to 30 days compared with PTA coated fertilizers. Moreover, pot experiments showed that coated fertilizer could effectively promote plant growth. This work will provide one-step spraying co-deposition approach to fabricate hydrophobic ODA-polyphenol film coated urea to improve the N release longevity, which can shine a light on the development of new slow release fertilizers (SRFs).