Low-cost and temperature-resistant mullite fiber sponges with superior thermal insulation and high-temperature PM filtration

•Low-cost and superelastic mullite fiber sponge was successfully fabricated by solution blow spinning.•The mullite fiber sponge can efficiently resist extreme temperatures from − 196 to 1300 °C.•The mullite fiber sponge filter achieved 99.23% and 99.78% removal efficiency for the PM0.3-2.5 and PM2.5-10.•The mullite fiber sponge has great potential to be applied in thermal insulation and high-temperature filtration field.