We employ electrostatic force microscopy to study the electrostatic environment of graphene sheets prepared with the micromechanical exfoliation technique. We detect the electric dipole of residues left from the adhesive tape during graphene preparation, as well as the dipole of water molecules adsorbed on top of graphene. Water molecules form a dipole layer that can generate an electric field as large as ∼109Vm−1. We expect that water molecules can significantly modify the electrical properties of graphene devices.

Materials with surfaces that can be switched from high/superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity are useful for myriad applications. Herein, we report a metal–organic framework (MOF) assembled from Zn^II ions, 1,4‐benzenedicarboxylate, and a hydrophobic carborane‐based linker. The MOF crystal‐surface can be switched between hydrophobic and superhydrophilic through a chemical treatment to remove some of the building blocks.

Neurotransmitters are stored in synaptic vesicles, where they have been assumed to be in free solution. Here we report that in Torpedo synaptic vesicles, only 5% of the total acetylcholine (ACh) or ATP content is free, and that the rest is adsorbed to an intravesicular proteoglycan matrix. This matrix, which controls ACh and ATP release by an ion-exchange mechanism, behaves like a smart gel. That is, it releases neurotransmitter and changes its volume when challenged with small ionic concentration change. Immunodetection analysis revealed that the synaptic vesicle proteoglycan SV2 is the core of the intravesicular matrix and is responsible for immobilization and release of ACh and ATP. We suggest that in the early steps of vesicle fusion, this internal matrix regulates the availability of free diffusible ACh and ATP, and thus serves to modulate the quantity of transmitter released.