Bioinsecticides Articles
Bioinsecticides based on entomopathogenic fungi have been in use for decades now; however, conidia produced by these fungi are very sensitive to abiotic factors. One of the stragies to overcome this is their encapsulation in order to prevent a fungal matrix. Encapsulation in polymer matrices adds value to the product, which preserves their properties and viability. Nanostructured materials may have all the crystallites and interface boundaries with the same chemical composition or not, resulting in structures known as nanocomposites. In fact, polymer nanocomposites are two-phase materials with one phase formed by nanoparticles (fillers) dispersed in a polymer matrix, which is the continuous phase (Ma et al., 2012). Different nanofillers may be incorporated into the polymer matrix; when the filler is a philosilicate clay such as bentonite, the material is generically called polymer/layered silicate nanocomposite .
Last Updated on: Nov 27, 2024