Embodiments of the present invention include a material comprising a polymer having a modulus of elasticity less than 10⁵ Pa and a material comprising a polymer having a modulus of elasticity of less than 510⁴ Pa. Embodiments also include a material comprising a polymeric network and a multiplicity of side chains attached to the polymeric network. The multiplicity of side chains may have an average molecular weight below the critical molecular weight for entanglements. In certain embodiments it may be advantageous for the side branches to have a glass transition temperature below the use temperature of the material. The polymer network may comprise at least two monomers so that the polymer network is a copolymer. Embodiments of the present invention also include methods of forming a polymer network. Such as, for example, a method of preparing a polymer network comprising cross-linking a polymer, wherein the polymer comprises a multiplicity of side chains. The polymer may be at least one of a polymer brush, a polymer comb, and a nanocomposite material. An additional embodiment may include polymerizing macromonomers in the presence of a crosslinking agent. This embodiment may result in the forming a polymer network, wherein the polymer network comprises a multiplicity of branches attached to the polymer network, wherein the macromonomers may have a molecular weight less than the critical molecular weight for entanglements. Another embodiment of the method of forming a polymer network may comprising polymerizing monomers directly from a crosslinked polymer network. This method may result in forming a branched polymer network, wherein the polymer network comprises a multiplicity of branches attached to the polymer network.