Mechanochemistry is a green, solid-state, re-emerging synthetic technique that can rapidly form complex molecules and materials without exogenous heat or solvent(s). Herein, we report the application of solvent-free mechanochemical ball milling for the synthesis of metal halide perovskites, to overcome problems with solution-based syntheses. We prepared phase-pure, air-sensitive CsSnX 3 (X = I, Br, Cl) and its mixed halide perovskites by mechanochemistry for the first time by reactions between cesium and tin(II) halides. Notably, we report the sole examples where metastable, high-temperature phases like cubic CsSnCl 3 , cubic CsPbI 3 , and trigonal FAPbI 3 were accessible at ambient temperatures and pressures without post-synthetic processing. The perovskites can be prepared up to ''kilogram scales.'' Lead-free, all-inorganic photodetector devices were fabricated using the mechanosynthesized CsSnBr 1.5 Cl 1.5 under solvent-free conditions and showed 10-fold differences between on-off currents. We highlight an essentially solvent-free, general approach to synthesize metastable compounds and fabricate photodetectors from commercially available precursors.

Haptics involves human touch sensing and tactile feedback and plays a crucial role in physical interactions of humans with their environment. There is an ever‐increasing interest in development of haptic technologies, due to their role in various applications such as robotics, virtual and augmented reality, healthcare, and smart electronics. Electrically driven actuation mechanisms for soft materials like dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), electrohydraulic soft actuators (ESAs), ionic polymer−metal composites (IPMCs), and liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) hold the potential for the development of the next generation of haptic feedback devices due to a variety of advantages such as light weight and compact design, untethered activation and control, large actuation strains, and distributed and localized actuation. Herein, a detailed look is taken at the advancement in material designs for these electrically driven soft actuators. A detailed analysis of the different strategies for improving the electromechanical performance of existing material systems is presented. Approaches adopted to synthesize novel material systems are explained. Advancements in compliant electrode materials for the electrically driven soft actuators are also described. The conclusion reflects on the main challenges in the field and provides perspectives on recent advancements expected to have a significant impact.

Hydrogels are able to exhibit optical transitions in the presence of external stimuli such as temperature, driven by the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phenomena. However, they suffer from inherent...

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