A copper-based single-atom material effectively controls plant diseases with nearly zero soil residue and low phytotoxicity

A growing population necessitates the development of sustainable agriculture, which requires achieving atom economy in pesticide delivery, fertilization, and so on. To this end, we focus on single-atom materials (SAMs) to enhance atom utilization within agricultural systems. In this study, we report a novel pesticide for plants, a single-atom copper (Cu₁) formulation, by employing a precipitation-equilibrium-driven (K_sp-driven) method to anchor Cu₁ onto a calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) carrier. Thanks to its high atom dispersion and utilization efficiency, the Cu₁ formulation (Cu₁/CaCO₃) significantly enhances crop disease resistance while exhibiting minimal phytotoxicity in the tested species. Notably, this formulation leads to nearly 20-fold less copper residue in the soil after field application compared to traditional copper formulations. It inhibits microbial growth potentially by targeting key bacterial membrane components through interactions with phosphate groups (–PO₄^2–) in membrane phospholipids and binding to sulfhydryl (–SH) residues in respiratory chain proteins. Cu₁/CaCO₃ represents SAMs as a promising tool for designing green pesticides to manage crop diseases and a novel interdisciplinary approach to promoting sustainable agriculture.