Figure 5. Mechanical property (compression) of the as-prepared sponges.

(a) Stress as a function of compressive deformation. The corresponding dash lines shows the linear direction of the curve which obeys Hooke's law. The region with grey background illustrated the elastic deformation of the sponges (<5%). Inset: The −170°C sponge shows a compressive modulus of 204.4 KPa, which is approximately 15 times higher than that of the −20°C sponge (13.7 KPa). n > 3. (b) Recovery of the sponges after repetitive compression-release cycles. The deformation stabilized after the first cycle, in which permanent plastic deformations of 95% and 78% are observed for the −170 and −20°C sponges, respectively. The volume of the sponge before compression was normalized to 100% (cycle 0). The dynamic process of mechanical compression release could also be found in Supplementary Information.