Synthesis and characterization of indole-3-butyric acid/hydrotalcite-like compound nanohybrids

In this paper, the intercalation of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) into hydrotalcite-like compounds (HTlc) was carried out using anion exchange and reconstruction method to obtain IBA–HTlc nanohybrids. The release kinetics of IBA from the nanohybrids was investigated in various conditions to study the effects of some factors namely IBA loading amount, synthesis method, electrolyte and temperature. It was found that the nanohybrids can well control the release of IBA, showing that the nanohybrids are a potential pesticide-controlled release formulation. The release of IBA from the nanohybrids prepared by reconstruction was slower than that of the nanohybrids prepared by anion exchange. The presence of electrolyte and the higher temperature would induce quicker release of IBA. For the nanohybrid samples synthesized by anion exchange method, the release rate of IBA increased with the increase of IBA loading amount. The release process of IBA from IBA–HTlc nanohybrids may be described by pseudo-second-order release kinetics.