Recent Progress on the Solar‐Driven Interfacial Evaporation Based on Natural Products and Synthetic Polymers

Solar steam generation (SSG) has emerged as a promising technology to utilize solar energy for desalination. As the key part of the SSG system, photothermal materials (PMs) play a critical role due to their unique solar‐driven interface evaporation pattern. Herein, the research progress of PMs based on natural products and synthetic polymers in recent years is reviewed. The major emphasis lies on the preparation method, the structure, and the solar energy conversion efficiency of such PMs. Further understanding of the structure–performance relationship of these materials may supply useful guidance for design and fabrication of high‐performance PMs, which is of great importance for the promotion of practical application of SSG.