Hydrophobic self-cleaning micro-nano composite polyethylene-based agricultural plastic film with light conversion and abrasion resistance

Agricultural plastic film (APF) is extensively used in modern agriculture. However, to the best of our knowledge, the self-cleaning property and light transmittance of APF are still the main factors affecting crop yield at present. To solve these problems, for the first time, we developed polyethylene-based dust-proof composite APF with multi-scale micro-nano structure and light conversion performance. By combining the carbon dots (CDs) and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles (FSi-SiO2) with organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), composite materials with multi-scale micro-nano structure and low surface energy (SFE) were constructed (FSi-SiO2/CDs@OMMT). After blending with linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE, PE), a self-cleaning dust-proof APF with “lotus-effect” was synthesized (PE/FSi-SiO2/CDs@OMMT). The PE/FSi-SiO2/CDs@OMMT exhibited excellent hydrophobic property, which had a water contact angle (WCA) of 108.9°. The results of the mechanical properties tests showed that the horizontal and portrait tensile strength of PE/FSi-SiO2/CDs@OMMT improved from 25.08 and 27.41 MPa to 33.14 and 42.21 MPa and that the horizontal and portrait elongation at break improved from 273.53 % and 380.23–369.43 % and 480.73 %, respectively. In addition, the anti-fouling and dust-proof performance were studied, and the results showed that the anti-fouling rate and dust removal efficiency of PE/FSi-SiO2/CDs@OMMT were reached to 99.84 % and 99.58 %, respectively. Additionally, PE/FSi-SiO2/CDs@OMMT also possessed excellent thermal stability, anti-algae and anti-bacterial adhesion properties, and light conversion performance. This work could provide a facile approach and strategy to fabricate functional APF for agricultural application.