India aims to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, which has ignited significant research into developing efficient and cost-effective production methods. Electrolysis, a critical environmentally friendly method for producing green hydrogen, faces challenges due to its reliance on costly precious metal electrodes, making it both expensive and inefficient. To reduce hydrogen production costs, this study investigates using wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) to create a Ni-induced Fe-Ni bimetallic structure (BS) as a cost-effective, alternative, and sustainable catalyst for efficient green hydrogen production. WAAM is an emerging technique that enables the deposition of multiple materials, such as stainless steel (SS) and nickel (Ni), layer by layer to create a BS with tailored properties.

The research focuses on the design and optimization of a BS by depositing different compositions of Ni (10% to 40%) in SS316L. The mechanical, metallurgical, and corrosion properties with oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activities were evaluated using corrosion, electrolysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy.

This study revealed that increasing Ni content reduces micro-hardness by up to 38.14% due to higher L10-FCC phase formation. Similarly, increasing Ni content reduced the OER and corrosion activity, except for the 40% Ni content sample due to intermetallic formation (IMC) and lower polarization resistance. Further quenching heat treatment of the 40% Ni sample exhibited more remarkable performance than all other samples.

Finally, we have come to understand the effectiveness of WAAM in fabricating Ni-doped SS316L electrodes in an affordable way. IMC formation enhanced the activity of 40% Ni, and heat treatment plays a critical role in OER performance. Future work will explore other composition variations to understand the electrochemical behavior further, aiming to develop a scalable, cost-effective method for manufacturing green hydrogen-energy fuel-cell electrodes.