Wide Range Of Experimental Techniques Research Articles

Abatement of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ventilation Air Methane (VAM) Using Ionic Liquids: A Review of Experimental Methods and Modelling Approaches

Ventilation Air Methane (VAM) refers to the release of fugitive methane (CH4) emissions into the atmosphere during underground coal mining operations. Growing concerns regarding the greenhouse effects of CH4 have led to a worldwide effort in developing efficient and cost-effective methods of capturing CH4. Among these, absorption-based processes, particularly those using Ionic Liquids (ILs) are appealing due to their advantages over conventional methods. In this study, the solubility of CH4 in various ILs, expressed by Henry’s law constant, is first reviewed by examining a wide range of experimental techniques. This is followed by a review of thermodynamic modelling tools such as the extended Henry’s law model, extended Pitzer’s model, Peng–Robinson (PR) equation of state, and Krichevsky−Kasarnovsky (KK) equation of state as well as computational (Artificial Neural Network) modelling approaches. The comprehensive analysis presented in this paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the factors that significantly influence the process of interest. Furthermore, the study provides a critical examination of recent advancements and innovations in CH4 capture by ILs. ILs, in general, have a higher selectivity for methane compared to conventional solvents. This means that ILs can remove methane more effectively from VAM, resulting in a higher purity of the recovered methane. Overall, ILs offer several advantages over conventional solvents for the after treatment of VAM. They are more selective, less volatile, have a wider temperature range, are chemically stable, and can be made from renewable materials. As a result of their many advantages, ILs are becoming increasingly popular for the after treatment of VAM. They offer a more sustainable, efficient, and safe alternative to conventional solvents, and they are likely to continue gaining market share in the coming years.

14th International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation (SRI 2021), 28 March to 1 April 2022

The International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation (SRI) is a unique and significant international forum held every three years in the community of synchrotron radiation (SR) and free electron lasers (FEL). It is the prime forum for fostering connections between cutting-edge synchrotron radiation instrumentation, science, and the requirements of the user community. The SRI 2021 had originally been scheduled to take place in Hamburg in summer 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to 2022 and held as an online event.More than 1160 international participants from 25 countries met virtually at the SRI 2021. In nearly 290 talks and 450 posters, latest results were presented. Although it was an online-only conference, lively discussions took place in the nearly 40 parallel sessions, and the eight poster sessions were also very well attended.The main topics of the SRI conference were: new SR and FEL facilities, update plans of these facilities, and recent developments in various instrumentation areas like beamline design, X-ray optics, sample environments, detectors and spectrometers, data acquisition, and data analysis techniques or automation. These innovations contributed to new results for a wide range of experimental techniques and scientific applications such as X-ray scattering and spectroscopy, bio- and scanning imaging, structural biology crystallography, coherent techniques, or in-situ/operando methods. A dedicated session concerned industrial applications of synchrotron radiation.The field of synchrotron radiation instrumentation is currently seeing very active development due to various factors. Firstly, the number of SR sources world-wide is increasing significantly, with new sources in particular in Europe and in Asia. Secondly, a new generation of storage rings with new multi-bend achromat lattices are being implemented at a growing number of existing facilities. These facilities offer a significant increase of brilliance and coherence and thereby lead to new and improved applications of synchrotron radiation, in particular in the areas of imaging and high spatial resolution. Thirdly, the increase of soft and hard X-ray FEL sources worldwide and the maturation of their experimental techniques and scientific applications is the background for a strongly increasing number of developments for ultrafast time-resolved investigations of dynamic behaviour of materials and reactions. Most of the keynote speakers and many invited and contributed talks or posters at the conference showed new results directly related to these three major developments.Lists of International Advisory Committee (listed by facility), Scientific Programme Committee (listed by facility), Local Organising Committee (listed by facility) are available in this PDF.

The Influence of UiO-66 Metal-Organic Framework Structural Defects on Adsorption and Separation of Hexane Isomers.

In this work, adsorption properties of the UiO-66 metal-organic framework were investigated, with particular emphasis on the influence of structural defects. A series of UiO-66 samples were synthesized and characterized using a wide range of experimental techniques. Type I adsorption isotherms for low-temperature adsorption of N2 and Ar showed that micropore volume and specific surface area significantly increase with the number of defects. Adsorption of hexane isomers in UiO-66 was studied by means of quasi-equilibrated temperature-programmed desorption and adsorption (QE-TPDA) experimental and Monte Carlo simulation techniques. QE-TPDA profiles revealed that only defect-free UiO-66 exhibits distinct two adsorption states. This technique also yielded high-quality adsorption isobars that were successfully recreated using Grand-Canonical Monte Carlo molecular simulations, which, however, required refinement of the existing force fields. The calculations demonstrated the detailed mechanism of adsorption and separation of hexane isomers in the UiO-66 structure. The preferred tetrahedral cages provide suitable voids for bulky molecules, which is the reason for unusual "reverse" selectivity of UiO-66 towards di-branched alkanes. Interconnection of the tetrahedral cavities due to missing organic linkers greatly reduces the selectivity of the defected material.

Synthesis, characterization and electrochemical assessment of hexagonal molybdenum trioxide (h-MoO3) micro-composites with graphite, graphene and graphene oxide for lithium ion batteries

Hexagonal molybdenum trioxide (h-MoO3) microrods and their composites with graphite, graphene and graphene oxide (GO) are successfully synthesized by a soft chemistry route. The structural, compositional and electronic characteristics of the samples, investigated by a wide range of experimental techniques, evidence that the properties of the carbon material are preserved while yielding phase pure, highly crystalline oxide microstructures. h-MoO3 graphene and GO composites show excellent performance as Li ion batteries (LIBs) anodes. Precisely, h-MoO3 - GO electrodes deliver a remarkable specific capacity of 789 mA h g − 1 after 100 cycles at a high current density of 1000 mA g − 1, while h-MoO3 - graphene electrodes show an excellent stability at very high current densities, with specific capacities of 665 mA h g − 1 and 490 mA h g − 1 at 2000 and 3000 mA g − 1. The uniformly dispersed graphene and GO layers increase the structural stability of the composites and create a conductive network ensuring effective ambipolar diffusion of electrons and Li+ ions, as revealed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements and scanning electron microscopy of the cycled electrodes. These results expand the potential applications of h-MoO3 composites towards LIBs, paving the way for future improvements in this energy storage field.

Multifunctional nanoassemblies target bacterial lipopolysaccharides for enhanced antimicrobial DNA delivery

The development of new therapeutic strategies against multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacteria is a major challenge for pharmaceutical research. In this respect, it is increasingly recognized that an efficient treatment for resistant bacterial infections should combine antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. Here, we explore the multifunctional therapeutic potential of nanostructured self-assemblies from a cationic bolaamphiphile, which target bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) and associates with an anti-bacterial nucleic acid to form nanoplexes with therapeutic efficacy against Gram-negative bacteria. To understand the mechanistic details of these multifunctional antimicrobial-anti-inflammatory properties, we performed a fundamental study, comparing the interaction of these nanostructured therapeutics with synthetic biomimetic bacterial membranes and live bacterial cells. Combining a wide range of experimental techniques (Confocal Microscopy, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy, Microfluidics, NMR, LPS binding assays), we demonstrate that the LPS targeting capacity of the bolaamphiphile self-assemblies, comparable to that exerted by Polymixin B, is a key feature of these nanoplexes and one that permits entry of therapeutic nucleic acids in Gram-negative bacteria. These findings enable a new approach to the design of efficient multifunctional therapeutics with combined antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects and have therefore the potential to broadly impact fundamental and applied research on self-assembled nano-sized antibacterials for antibiotic resistant infections.

Thickness induced microstructure, electronic structure and optoelectronic properties of Cu2S films deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

This study addresses the influence of film thickness on the microstructure, electronic structure, and optoelectronic properties of Cu2S films. To this end, thickening Cu2S films are deposited on the soda lime glass substrate by varying the deposition time (t) from 60 to 420 min at room temperature (303 K) using radio frequency magnetron sputtering, and a range of experimental techniques are then used to characterize these films. Though films deposited at t of 60–360 min are found to have a pure Cu2S phase, an additional Cu1.8S phase is detected for the film deposited at 420 min. The valence state of Cu is found to be +1 in all these films, though the binding energy positions of the core level 2p electrons are found to shift systematically and are correlated to the thickness-induced compositional changes in these films. Sulfur is found to exist in two valence states in all these films: S−2 bound with Cu2S and elemental or nonstoichiometric S−n, the overall S−n/S−2 ratio being found to reduce with increasing film thickness. This microstructural adjustment in the thickening film is found to alter the electronic structure and optoelectronic properties of these films, measured using a wide range of experimental techniques. In the end, the principle behind the microstructure alteration of this thickening film is proposed.

Effect of magnesium on the morphology of carbides and on M7C3→M23C6 carbides transformation in the 21-4N heat-resistant steel

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the effect of magnesium on the morphology of carbides and on M7C3 → M23C6 (M = Cr and/or Fe) carbides transformation in the 21-4N heat-resistant steel. 21-4N heat-resistant steel was calculated by using the FactSage. The equilibrium carbide phase is M23C6 and is stable up to 1492 K in Mg-added 21-4N heat-resistant steel. The studies involve a wide range of experimental techniques to characterize the investigated steels in the as-cast and hot-rolled state, including X-ray diffractometer, confocal scanning laser microscope (CSLM), scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopes (TEM) and microhardness testers. In the as-cast and hot-rolled samples with different magnesium contents, M7C3 was detected due to nonequilibrium solidification, while the carbide types are M23C6 in the prediction from equilibrium phase diagram. Lamellar structure in the as-cast sample is composed of FCC austenite and M23C6. And blocky shape carbide M7C3 is wrapped by the lamellar structure M23C6.

Synthesis, EPR study and photophysical properties of a mononuclear Fe(III) Schiff base complex functionalized by 3,6-di-tert-butyl-carbazole moieties

An azomethine iron(III) complex containing 3,6-di-tert-butyl-carbazole fragments on periphery with a PF6ˉ counter-ion was synthesized and characterized by a wide range of experimental techniques. According to the X-ray powder diffraction data, the unit cell contains four molecules, which adopt a facial isomeric form. EPR spectroscopy revealed the presence of only high-spin (HS) iron(III) centers in the temperature range between 3.8 and 300 K. At low temperatures, the majority of complexes form the supramolecular dimers, wherein the two HS iron(III) centers are weakly antiferromagnetically coupled, but an increase in temperature causes the cleavage of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and results in the formation of a monomeric packing structure. The thermal stability and phase behavior were studied by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The UV/Vis absorption properties were studied in dichloromethane and rationalized by time-dependent density functional theory calculations. Upon excitation at 345 nm, the complex exhibits intense fluorescence centered at 449 nm. A single emission band was assigned to a πcarb–π* intraligand charge-transfer excited state. In addition to a significant Stokes shift (104 nm), a high fluorescence quantum yield (54%) was observed.

Paracrine crosstalk between intestinal L- and D-cells controls secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 in mice.

DPP-4 inhibitors, used for treatment of type 2 diabetes, act by increasing the concentrations of intact glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), but at the same time, they inhibit secretion of GLP-1, perhaps by a negative feedback mechanism. We hypothesized that GLP-1 secretion is feedback regulated by somatostatin (SS) from neighboring D-cells, and blocking this feedback circuit results in increased GLP-1 secretion. We used a wide range of experimental techniques, including gene expression analysis, immunohistochemical approaches, and the perfused mouse intestine to characterize the paracrine circuit controlling GLP-1 and SS. We show that 1) antagonizing the SS receptor (SSTr) 2 and SSTr5 led to increased GLP-1 and SS secretion in the mouse, 2) SS exhibits strong tonic inhibition of GLP-1 secretion preferentially through SSTr5, and 3) the secretion of S was GLP-1 receptor dependent. We conclude that SS is a tonic inhibitor of GLP-1 secretion, and interventions in the somatostain-GLP-1 paracrine loop lead to increased GLP-1 secretion.

Transforming X-ray detection with hybrid photon counting detectors.

Hybrid photon counting (HPC) detectors have radically transformed basic research at synchrotron light sources since 2006. They excel at X-ray diffraction applications in the energy range from 2 to 100 keV. The main reasons for their superiority are the direct detection of individual photons and the accurate determination of scattering and diffraction intensities over an extremely high dynamic range. The detectors were first adopted in macromolecular crystallography where they revolutionized data collection. They were soon also used for small-angle scattering, coherent scattering, powder X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy and increasingly high-energy applications. Here, we will briefly survey the history of HPC detectors, explain their technology and then show in detail how improved detection has transformed a wide range of experimental techniques. We will end with an outlook to the future, which will probably see HPC technology find even broader use, for example, in electron microscopy and medical applications.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of synchrotron science: achievements and opportunities’.

Annealing induced transformation and enhancement in the electronic defect states of Al doped ZnO films and their correlation with the optoelectronic properties

In this study, we report the transformation and/or enhancement of the electronic defect states by performing several annealing experiments on the same samples. To this end, Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films on the soda lime glass substrates were deposited by using sol-gel followed by spin coating process and then subjected to various annealing conditions at different pressure, like, air, low vacuum (1 × 10−2 mbar) and/or high vacuum (1 × 10−6 mbar); each at 500 °C for 1 h. A wide range of experimental techniques was used to characterize the overall microstructure and optoelectronic properties of these films after each annealing stage. Though the overall microstructure of all these films are found to change only marginally, the electronic defect states are found to significantly alter because of these repetitive annealing, leading substantial change in their electrical properties and also affecting these optically. Moreover, the effectiveness of Al doping is found to increase significantly because of the second annealing step, leading an increase in carrier concentration in all these films for a wider range of initial dopant concentration (0.0–3.0 at. %).

Data management and processing workflow for the Materials Physics and Engineering group beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source.

The ability to store, organize, process and distribute experimental data effectively, efficiently and securely is particularly important for large user facilities like the Advanced Photon Source. In this article, the deployment of the APS Data Management System (DM) at the 1-ID and 6-BM beamlines of the APS is described. These two beamlines support a wide range of experimental techniques and generate data at relatively high rates, making them ideal candidates to illustrate the deployment and customization of the DM system and its tools. Using several usage examples at these beamlines, various capabilities of the DM system are described.

Effect of boron addition in modulating the optoelectronic properties of undoped and Al-doped ZnO thin films

Designing a transparent conductor for specific applications may require fundamental understanding of its microstructure and thus correlated optoelectronic properties with respect to a number of experimental parameters. To this end, the present study introduced varying concentrations of boron into the undoped and the Al-doped ZnO films by using co-deposition route in RF magnetron sputtering on soda lime glass substrates. A wide range of experimental techniques are then used to characterize these films. The films are found to demonstrate a high optical transparency of >83% and showed blue shift as a result of boron doping with Eg being as high as 3.98 eV. For the B3+-doped ZnO films, an increase in carrier concentration with increasing boron content is related to the cumulative effects of increased boron substitution in the zinc lattice positions and an increase in the intrinsic shallow donor level defects, caused by zinc interstitials and oxygen vacancies. An inverse effect is seen for the (B3+, Al3+)-doped ZnO films with increasing boron introduction, caused by reduced Al substitution in zinc lattice positions because of higher B–O bond strength as well as reduced doping efficiencies of B3+ and/or Al3+ ions due to decreasing crystallinity in these films. Finally, very high boron content in both these films is found to develop B2O3 and/or B7O phases, thereby not contributing entirely to the carrier generation and also reducing the carrier mobility of these films.

Tunable polymorphism of epitaxial iron oxides in the four-in-one ferroic-on-GaN system with magnetically ordered α-, γ-, ɛ−Fe2O3 , and Fe3O4 layers

Hybridization of semiconducting and magnetic materials into a single heterostructure is believed to be potentially applicable to the design of novel functional spintronic devices. In the present work we report epitaxial stabilization of four magnetically ordered iron oxide phases (Fe3O4, {\gamma}-Fe2O3, {\alpha}-Fe2O3 and most exotic metastable {\epsilon}-Fe2O3) in the form of nanometer sized single crystalline films on GaN(0001) surface. The epitaxial growth of as many as four distinctly different iron oxide phases is demonstrated within the same single-target Laser MBE technological process on a GaN semiconductor substrate widely used for electronic device fabrication. The discussed iron oxides belong to a family of simple formula magnetic materials exhibiting a rich variety of outstanding physical properties including peculiar Verwey and Morin phase transitions in Fe3O4 and {\alpha}-Fe2O3 and multiferroic behavior in metastable magnetically hard {\epsilon}-Fe2O3 ferrite. The physical reasons standing behind the nucleation of a particular phase in an epitaxial growth process deserve interest from the fundamental point of view. The practical side of the presented study is to exploit the tunable polymorphism of iron oxides for creation of ferroic-on-semiconductor heterostructures usable in novel spintronic devices. By application of a wide range of experimental techniques the surface morphology, crystalline structure, electronic and magnetic properties of the single phase iron oxide epitaxial films on GaN have been studied. A comprehensive comparison has been made to the properties of the same ferrite materials in the bulk and nanostructured form reported by other research groups.

Effect of intrinsic electronic defect states on the morphology and optoelectronic properties of Sn-rich SnS particles

A small variation in the elemental composition of a chemical compound can cause the formation of additional electronic defect states in the material, thereby altering the overall microstructure and thus induced properties. In this work, we observed chemical constitution-induced modification in the morphology and optoelectronic properties of SnS. To this end, SnS particles were prepared using the solution chemical route and were characterized using a wide range of experimental techniques, such as x-ray diffractometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). All these SnS particles are found to be Sn-rich and p-type. However, distinctly different morphologies (i.e., flower-like and aggregated ones) are observed. These are then correlated with the electronic defect states, which are induced because of the presence of Sn vacancies, Sn antisites, and/or Sn interstitials. A combination of EDS, XPS, and STS data confirmed the presence of a higher concentration of Sn vacancies along with lower quantities of Sn interstitials and/or antisites in the SnS particles with flower-like morphologies giving rise to higher hole concentration, which subsequently leads to reduced transport, optical band gaps, and barrier heights.

Zinc interstitial threshold in Al-doped ZnO film: Effect on microstructure and optoelectronic properties

In order to know the threshold quantity of the zinc interstitials that contributes to an increase in carrier concentration in the Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films and their effect on the overall microstructure and optoelectronic properties of these films, in this work, Zn-rich-AZO and ZnO thin films are fabricated by adding excess zinc (from a zinc metallic target) during their deposition in RF magnetron sputtering and are then investigated using a wide range of experimental techniques. All these films are found to grow in a ZnO hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure with strong (002) orientation of the crystallites, with no indication of Al2O3, metallic Zn, and Al. The excessively introduced zinc in these AZO and/or ZnO films is found to increase the shallow donor level defects (i.e., zinc interstitials and oxygen-related electronic defect states), which is found to significantly increase the carrier concentration in these films. Additionally, aluminum is seen to enhance the creation of these electronic defect states in these films, thereby contributing more to the overall carrier concentration of these films. However, carrier mobility is found to decrease when the carrier concentration values are higher than 4 × 1020 cm−3, because of the electron-electron scattering. Whereas the optical band gap of the ZnO films is found to increase with increasing carrier concentration because of the Burstein-Moss shift, these decrease for the AZO films due to the band gap narrowing effect caused by excess carrier concentration.

Nanodiamonds for device applications: An investigation of the properties of boron-doped detonation nanodiamonds

The inclusion of boron within nanodiamonds to create semiconducting properties would create a new class of applications in the field of nanodiamond electronics. Theoretical studies have differed in their conclusions as to whether nm-scale NDs would support a stable substitutional boron state, or whether such a state would be unstable, with boron instead aggregating or attaching to edge structures. In the present study detonation-derived NDs with purposefully added boron during the detonation process have been studied with a wide range of experimental techniques. The DNDs are of ~4 nm in size, and have been studied with CL, PL, Raman and IR spectroscopies, AFM and HR-TEM and electrically measured with impedance spectroscopy; it is apparent that the B-DNDs studied here do indeed support substitutional boron species and hence will be acting as semiconducting diamond nanoparticles. Evidence for moderate doping levels in some particles (~1017 B cm−3), is found alongside the observation that some particles are heavily doped (~1020 B cm−3) and likely to be quasi-metallic in character. The current study has therefore shown that substitutional boron doping in nm NDs is in fact possible, opening-up the path to a whole host of new applications for this interesting class of nano-particles.

Two states or not two states: Single-molecule folding studies of protein L.

Experimental tools of increasing sophistication have been employed in recent years to study protein folding and misfolding. Folding is considered a complex process, and one way to address it is by studying small proteins, which seemingly possess a simple energy landscape with essentially only two stable states, either folded or unfolded. The B1-IgG binding domain of protein L (PL) is considered a model two-state folder, based on measurements using a wide range of experimental techniques. We applied single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectroscopy in conjunction with a hidden Markov model analysis to fully characterize the energy landscape of PL and to extract the kinetic properties of individual molecules of the protein. Surprisingly, our studies revealed the existence of a third state, hidden under the two-state behavior of PL due to its small population, ∼7%. We propose that this minority intermediate involves partial unfolding of the two C-terminal β strands of PL. Our work demonstrates that single-molecule FRET spectroscopy can be a powerful tool for a comprehensive description of the folding dynamics of proteins, capable of detecting and characterizing relatively rare metastable states that are difficult to observe in ensemble studies.

The γ′-Ni3(Al,Ta) phase triggered strengthening of the Ni-Ta-Al-Cr-C coating layer, deposited on austenitic stainless steel

The aim of this work was to analyse the effect of the γ′-Ni3(Al,Ta) phase on the strengthening of the Ni-Ta-Al-Cr-C coating layer, deposited on austenitic stainless steel AISI 310. The hardfacing alloy was deposited using the Gas Tungsten Arc Welding process. The specimens were analysed in the as-welded, solution treated and aged states. The investigations involved a wide range of experimental techniques, that included scanning electron microcopy, electron probe microanalysis, microhardness measurements and single direction wear testing using the nanoindentation technique to characterize the effect of the γ′-Ni3(Al,Ta) phase on the strengthening of the investigated coating layer. Additionally, the block-on-ring wear test was performed in order to determine the macroscopic wear mechanism of the deposit during sliding wear under harsh conditions. The obtained results show that heat treatment (solution treatment+aging) did not significantly affect the chemical distribution along the first layer, but clearly reduced local intradendritic segregation and brought about a more uniform distribution and size of the γ′ phase in comparison to the as-welded state. An increase of Fe within the coating layer reduced the γ′ phase's nucleation driving force and its final volume fraction. It was found that the MC carbides exhibited a greater tendency to fracture during the single direction wear test in comparison to M7C3 carbides. The heat treatment procedure used in this work allowed to increase the volume fraction of the γ′ phase in the coating layer. This manifested itself in a significantly enhanced microhardness and increased values of displacement into the surface vs the scratch distance made by the indenter during the wear test, which is associated with the improvement of abrasive wear resistance.

Expanding the Symbiodinium (Dinophyceae, Suessiales) Toolkit Through Protoplast Technology.

Dinoflagellates within the genus Symbiodinium are photosymbionts of many tropical reef invertebrates, including corals, making them central to the health of coral reefs. Symbiodinium have therefore gained significant research attention, though studies have been constrained by technical limitations. In particular, the generation of viable cells with their cell walls removed (termed protoplasts) has enabled a wide range of experimental techniques for bacteria, fungi, plants, and algae such as ultrastructure studies, virus infection studies, patch clamping, genetic transformation, and protoplast fusion. However, previous studies have struggled to remove the cell walls from armored dinoflagellates, potentially due to the internal placement of their cell walls. Here, we produce the first Symbiodinium protoplasts from three genetically and physiologically distinct strains via incubation with cellulase and osmotic agents. Digestion of the cell walls was verified by a lack of Calcofluor White fluorescence signal and by cell swelling in hypotonic culture medium. Fused protoplasts were also observed, motivating future investigation into intra- and inter-specific somatic hybridization of Symbiodinium. Following digestion and transfer to regeneration medium, protoplasts remained photosynthetically active, regrew cell walls, regained motility, and entered exponential growth. Generation of Symbiodinium protoplasts opens exciting, new avenues for researching these crucial symbiotic dinoflagellates, including genetic modification.