Contributions of Nano-Nitrogen Fertilizers to Sustainable Development Goals: A Comprehensive Review

Nano-nitrogen fertilizers (NNFs) have emerged as a promising technology in the field of agriculture, offering potential solutions to improve nutrient uptake efficiency, enhance crop productivity, and reduce environmental impacts. NNFs showed superior characteristics and performance on crops and, therefore, became a potential alternative to conventional nitrogen (N) fertilizers. These fertilizers enhance plant uptake while simultaneously reducing environmental losses. For example, a hydroxy appetite-based urea NNF extended the N release for 112 days, which could cover the N demand of many perennial crops, thus reducing losses. The reported NNFs in this review increased the yield by 10-80% compared to conventional fertilizers. Additionally, their small particle size increases crop acclimation and decreases the application rate. With all these beneficial traits of NNFs, they potentially contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This review article summarizes the materials used in NNF formulation, methods of preparing NNFs, and their crop responses. Also, it highlights the limitations identified in the research studies and provides research recommendations for the future. Further, it provides a critical assessment of the current state of NNFs and their prospects for revolutionizing modern agriculture to attain SDGs.