Bioinspired soft microvalve as an integrable fluidic diode for point-of-care devices

Microfluidics enables the off-lab capabilities to analyze small and isolated fluid samples for point-of-care applications, e.g., personalized medicine. Microvalves are essential to microfluidics in modulating flows in fluidic circuits. Existing microvalves suffer from limitations of slow response times, high fluidic resistance, and integration difficulties, limiting their deployment in real-world applications. Few designs overcome these challenges due to the difficulties in processing soft materials and fabricating complex structure designs cost effectively. To address these constraints, this work proposes a heart-inspired soft microvalve (HiValve) that integrates seamlessly as a microfluidic diode at the chip level. Mimicking the ring vortex of cardiac valves, this microvalve closes within 60 ms. This microvalve enables on-chip applications, including finger-actuated mixing and pumping, and one-way heart-like blood circulation using only four microvalves and a single control port. This work enhances the performance and accessibility of soft microvalves and will accelerate their future deployment in personalized healthcare devices. © 2025 The Authors.