Desertification refers to the degradation of land [1], [2], [3] and [4]. As a severe global environmental problem, it has drawn considerable attention from the international community. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification [4] was adopted by the United Nations in 1994, and since that time, countries around the world have made ever-increasing efforts to combat desertification [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11] and [12]. However, the spread of desertification has not been controlled. Instead, it is becoming even worse; it is expanding at a rate of 50 000–70 000 km2 annually [13] and [14]. At present, desert and other dryland regions endangered by global desertification account for 41.3% of Earth’s land area [2], [15], [16] and [17]. In China, the desertified land is approximately 1.73 × 106 km2 which is 18.03% of the national territory, and another 3.1 × 105 km2 is tending to be desertified [18]. Desert control poses a global challenge. Presently, there exist three prevailing types of methods of desert control [1], [9], [10], [11], [12] and [19]: engineering methods, chemical methods, and vegetation methods. These methods have all played a positive role in desert control. The principle of engineering methods is to prevent the drifting of sand by building barriers, such as straw checkerboard barriers and sand fences. Chemical methods involve spraying oil, bitumen or latex onto the surface of sand to cause the surface layer to solidify. In vegetation methods, sand is usually remediated through the planting of psammophytes. However, none of the above methods is capable of changing the material characteristics of sand into those of soil.
