摘要： We are surrounded by soft materials. Most organs of the human body are made of soft materials. One defining characteristic of soft materials is that they can be readily deformed by external stimuli and stress. Even the thermal energy available at room temperature is sufficient to cause significant deformation in soft materials. de Gennes in his 1991 Nobel lecture emphasized “flexibility” as a defining characteristic of soft materials. Colloids, polymers, liquid crystals (LCs), gels, and biological materials are categorized as soft materials. Being pervasive in nature, soft materials have been a source of inspiration for scientists and engineers for the design and fabrication of stimuli‐responsive smart materials and systems for scientific investigations to understand the basic principles and technological application in devices and health care. Accordingly, a wide variety of engineered soft materials have been developed, which play a crucial role in modern technology. Soft nanotechnology, soft robotics, and soft lithography are examples that reflect the far‐reaching implications of soft materials in biology and engineering. Soft materials constitute one of the most stimulating interdisciplinary frontiers of modern science and are built on diverse experimental and theoretical foundations. Although soft materials in neat state have found a wide range of applications, fabrication of composites of soft materials by integrating other functional materials has recently become a common practice to realize advanced and tunable materials with enhanced properties for high‐tech applications. Incorporation of photothermal agents into the matrices of soft materials is one such emerging approach.