Inorganic Fibrous Materials for Solar‐Driven Interfacial Evaporation: A Structure‐Driven Perspective on Coupled Heat and Mass Transfer

Abstract

Solar‐driven interfacial evaporation (SIE) has emerged as a promising technology for efficient solar‐to‐vapor conversion. Inorganic fibrous materials have attracted increasing attention in SIE systems owing to their excellent thermal stability, chemical robustness, and tunable porous structures. This review summarizes the classifications, fabrication strategies, and structural characteristics of inorganic fibrous materials. The roles of fibrous architectures in solar energy harvesting, thermal management, and water transport are discussed, with particular attention to the relationships among structural design, coupled transport, and evaporation performance. Structural engineering and surface functionalization are regarded as effective strategies for regulating interfacial water–material interactions, enhancing capillary‐driven transport, and improving salt resistance. Strategies integrating external energy inputs are highlighted to improve evaporation stability under fluctuating environmental conditions. Representative applications in seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, and evaporation‐induced power generation are presented. The development of inorganic fibrous SIE systems remains constrained by challenges in long‐term stability, coupled transport optimization, and standardized evaluation. Future efforts should focus on scalable fabrication, mechanistic insights into photothermal conversion and coupled heat and mass transfer, and system‐level evaluation to accelerate the development of durable SIE systems. This review establishes a structure–transport–performance framework to guide the rational design of high‐performance inorganic fibrous evaporators.