Are nano-pesticides really meant for cleaner production? An overview on recent developments, benefits, environmental hazards and future prospectives

The world is seeking hard for sustainable agricultural practices with one of the prime objectives to improve crop yield through effective pest management. Scientific diaspora has already established that a significant amount of the pesticide is not being used by the crops and finds its way into the environment through leaching, evaporation, sorption etc., leading to adverse effects on human health and the ecosystem. Undoubtedly, nanotechnology is bringing a revolutionary change in agriculture through effective pest management. The main purpose of introducing nano-pesticides is to reduce the indiscriminate use of conventional pesticides and their harmful impacts on the environment. Nano-formulations can improve the efficiency of pesticides by enhancing permeability, solubility, and stability along-with controlling their release profile and protecting them from premature degradation. The present review is accordingly assembled to significantly investigate the developmental updates of nano-pesticides since the past decades, their ultimate fate, ecotoxicological risks and betterment over their conventional analogues. Nano-pesticides including nanomaterials as active ingredients, nano-encapsulations, nano-emulsions, nano-suspensions are discussed. Additionally, critical information and the foreseeable research gaps in this emerging area are highlighted. Currently, there is a dearth of fundamental knowledge about how nano-formulations will behave in the environment. It is still unclear whether they will genuinely produce noticeable benefits or represent a new class of hazards. Very scanty information is available on their ecotoxicological behaviour, guidelines, and policymaking for their safer use globally. Introducing these smart nano-formulations within the domain of the current pesticide regulatory frameworks is still under debate. Thus, a discussion of the pros and cons of nano-pesticides is of prime importance for justifying their status of cleaner production.