Flexible microfluidic chips have good application prospects in situations with easy bending and complex curvature. An important factor affecting the flexible microfluidic chip is its structural complexity. For example, the hybrid chip includes flow channels, mixing chambers, and one-way valves. How to achieve the same function with as few structures as possible has become an important research topic at present. In this paper, a Tesla valve micromixer with unidirectional flow characteristics is presented. A passive laminar flow Tesla valve micromixer is fabricated through 3D printing technology and limonene dissolution method. The main process is as follows: First of all, high impact polystyrene (HIPS) material was employed to make the Tesla valve channel mold. Second, the channel mold was dissolved in the limonene solvent. The mold of Tesla micromixer is made of HIPS material, the mixing experiment displace that the Tesla valve micromixer is characterized by unidirectional flow compared with the common T-shaped planar channel. At the same time, the 5-AAC Tesla valve micromixer can increase the mixing efficiency to 87%. By using four different groove structures and different flow rates of the mixing effect experiment, the conclusion is that the mixing efficiency of the 6-AAC Tesla valve micromixer is up to 0.89 when the flow rate is 2 mL/min. The results manifest that the Tesla valve structure can effectively improve the mixing efficiency.

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Biological gel artificial muscle (BGAM) has a promising future in the field of microelectromechanical systems. In contrast to materials research on BGAM, relatively little research is conducted on the preparation process for BGAM. Here, a water mist bonding method for the preparation of BGAM is proposed. The main application of the water mist bonding method is to complete the assembly of the electrode membrane with the electrically actuated membrane, and the actuation properties of the BGAM can be further enhanced. Experiments on mechanical, electrical, and actuation properties were conducted to investigate the effects of the water mist bonding process parameters on BGAM. The comprehensive experimental results revealed that BGAM possessed a more comprehensive optimization effect when the humidification time is 2.5 min: the bond strength reached the highest 0.92 MPa, the internal resistance, and elastic modulus are significantly reduced to 28 Ω and 2.08 MPa, respectively, and the output force response rate reached the highest 0.138 mN/s. In conclusion, the water mist bonding process proposed does not require complicated equipment, features optimized BGAM actuation performance, and makes up for the lack of process methods for preparing BGAM at this stage.

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