Nitrogen is the main limiting nutrient after carbon, hydrogen and oxygen for photosynthetic process, phyto-hormonal, proteomic changes and growth-development of plants to complete its lifecycle. Excessive and inefficient use of N fertilizer results in enhanced crop production costs and atmospheric pollution. Atmospheric nitrogen (71%) in the molecular form is not available for the plants. For world’s sustainable food production and atmospheric benefits, there is an urgent need to up-grade nitrogen use efficiency in agricultural farming system. The nitrogen use efficiency is the product of nitrogen uptake efficiency and nitrogen utilization efficiency, it varies from 30.2 to 53.2%. Nitrogen losses are too high, due to excess amount, low plant population, poor application methods etc., which can go up to 70% of total available nitrogen. These losses can be minimized up to 15–30% by adopting improved agronomic approaches such as optimal dosage of nitrogen, application of N by using canopy sensors, maintaining plant population, drip fertigation and legume based intercropping. A few transgenic studies have shown improvement in nitrogen uptake and even increase in biomass. Nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, glutamine synthetase, glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase and asparagine synthetase enzyme have a great role in nitrogen metabolism. However, further studies on carbon–nitrogen metabolism and molecular changes at omic levels are required by using “whole genome sequencing technology” to improve nitrogen use efficiency. This review focus on nitrogen use efficiency that is the major concern of modern days to save economic resources without sacrificing farm yield as well as safety of global environment, i.e. greenhouse gas emissions, ammonium volatilization and nitrate leaching.
Two-dimensional transition metal carbide and nitride nanomaterials, known as MXenes, exhibit low chemical stability in aqueous environments; they tend to oxidize and react with water molecules, resulting in structural degradation and decreased electrical conductivity. This significantly limits their storage lifetime and potential use in the presence of water, particularly in nanosheet-assembled films for battery electrodes and functional coatings. Here we demonstrate that thermal annealing of Ti3C2T z films at elevated temperatures (∼600 °C) causes changes in the termination distribution as well as the formation of a protective layer of TiO2 on the outermost layer of films. The induced chemical and structural changes during thermal treatment arrest MXene oxidation and enable the MXene films to be stable in aqueous solutions for over 10 months.
Carbon nanomaterials have been shown to rapidly evolve heat in response to electromagnetic fields. Initial studies focused on the use of microwaves, but more recently, it was discovered that carbon...
Here we report for the first time that Ti3C2Tx/polymer composite films rapidly heat when exposed to low-power radio frequency fields. Ti3C2Tx MXenes possess a high dielectric loss tangent, which is correlated with this rapid heating under electromagnetic fields. Thermal imaging confirms that these structures are capable of extraordinary heating rates (as high as 303 K/s) that are frequency- and concentration-dependent. At high loading (and high conductivity), Ti3C2Tx MXene composites do not heat under RF fields due to reflection of electromagnetic waves, whereas composites with low conductivity do not heat due to the lack of an electrical percolating network. Composites with an intermediate loading and a conductivity between 10–1000 S m−1 rapidly generate heat under RF fields. This finding unlocks a new property of Ti3C2Tx MXenes and a new material for potential RF-based applications.
Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) have great potential as a powerful tool to improve plant productivity. Here, we investigated the biological effects of graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on fiber-producing species (cotton, Gossypium hirsutum) and ornamental species (vinca, Catharanthus roseus). The exposure of seeds to CNTs or graphene led to the activation of early seed germination in Catharanthus and overall higher germination in cotton and Catharanthus seeds. The application of CBNs resulted in higher root and shoot growth of young seedlings of both tested species. Cultivation of Catharanthus plants in soil supplemented with CBNs resulted in the stimulation of plant reproductive system by inducing early flower development along with higher flower production. Catharanthus plants cultivated in CNTs or graphene supplemented soil accelerated total flower production by 37 and 58%, respectively. Additionally, CBNs reduced the toxic effects caused by NaCl. Long-term application of CBNs to crops cultivated under salt stress conditions improved the desired phenotypical traits of Catharanthus (higher flower number and leaf number) and cotton (increased fiber biomass) compared to untreated plants of both species cultivated at the same stress condition. The drought stress experiments revealed that introduction of CBNs to matured Catharanthus plant increased the plant survival with no symptoms of leaf wilting as compared to untreated Catharanthus growing in water deficit conditions.
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