APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING OF STEEL AND OTHER SUPPORT MATERIAL STRUCTURES WITH CARBON CAPTURE CAPABILITY AND HIGH EFFICIENCY

Abstract

An apparatus includes a template-former, a growth template, having a surface area containing three-dimensional features; a container which includes or retains electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are deposited, removed, or modified onto the growth template or to a structure-in-production; and a computer to plan and control said deposition, removal, or modification.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE AND PRIORITY CLAIM

This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/284,906, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING OF STEEL AND OTHER SUPPORT MATERIAL STRUCTURES WITH CARBON CAPTURE CAPABILITY AND HIGH EFFICIENCY,” filed Dec. 1, 2021, the disclosure of which being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

Disclosed embodiments are directed to an apparatus and method of fabricating materials for support structures with high efficiency.

BACKGROUND

Approximately 60% of the world's steel is generated by basic oxygen steelmaking, a process first patented by Henry Bessemer in 1856 and gradually scaled up from 1940s through the 1970s. Electric arc furnaces, scaled up in the 1960s and 1970s by Nucor Corporation, are more efficient than basic oxygen furnaces, and enable steelmaking to be done using only scrap metal steel as the feedstock, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the method. Further reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the steelmaking process and life cycle analysis of cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of steelmaking has been assessed, as taught by C. Hoffman, M. Van Hoey, B. Zeumer, “Decarbonizing challenge for steel”, McKinsey Insights: McKinsey & Company Metals and Mining, Jun. 3, 2020, to help in coming up with strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of steel production. Hydrogen-based steelmaking processes generate less CO2 than conventional furnaces, but also require more energy (to produce the hydrogen). If the energy to make hydrogen is produced by burning fossil fuels, then the overall carbon production is not diminished. There is therefore strong incentive to make steel with lower energy costs, while reducing carbon footprint of the production process.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the disclosed embodiments, an apparatus may include: (1) a template-former or similar material-producing component (that produces conducting material to build at least one segment of a growth template, said growth template containing three-dimensional features); (2) a container or other structure or stream which include or retain electrolytes or other fluids; (3) electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are deposited, removed, or modified onto said growth template or to a structure-in-production; (4) a potentiostat to control said deposition, removal, or modification; (5) electrodes to implement said deposition, removal, or modification; (6) a computer to plan and control said deposition, removal, or modification; and (7) a monitoring device that is used by the computer to plan and control said deposition, removal, or modification.

In accordance with the disclosed embodiments, a method for building structures, may include: (1) planning construction of a growth template and deposition, removal, or modification of materials onto the growth template and structure-in-production; (2) production of one or more sections of a growth template; (3) addition, removal, or modification of electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are to be deposited, removed, or modified onto said growth template or structure-in-production; (4) growth or removal or modification of onto said growth template or structure-in-production; (5) monitoring said structure-in-production; (6) repetition of any or all of the above operations; and (7) removal of the produced structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the apparatus including a template-former and a growth template;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a multi-level three-dimensional growth template according to the disclosed embodiments; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method to produce a material according to the disclosed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed embodiments describe an apparatus and methods to produce a material (e.g., steel) for use in a support structure, and to produce the novel steel structure itself (termed “produced structure”). Until the produced structure is complete, it is termed a “structure-in-production”. Disclosed embodiments describe manufacturing of support structures, for example, steel beams. Steel has been broadly used in manufacturing parts and components ranging in size from tens of meters to tens of micrometers. Steel parts and components are ubiquitous in a broad range of industries, including but not limited to building construction, automotive transportation, production machinery, food and beverage, medical devices, appliances, and piping. For such applications, improvements in energy efficient manufacturing methods, which emit less carbon over the product lifecycle are desirable. Bulk steel alloys, as well as microstructure-engineered steel are currently used according to their specific properties across industries and applications. Disclosed embodiments provide an apparatus and method for efficient fabrication of support structures made of steel or other materials. Embodiments are presented in which carbon is captured during the fabrication process. Disclosed embodiments exploit electroplating-based processes to generate steel or other structures at reduced cost in terms of currency and energy.

The disclosed embodiments also have the advantage of being able to finely tune microstructure in situ, obviating or reducing the need for processing after fabrication. An additional advantage is the ability to capture carbon during the production process. Prior electroplating efforts in steel production have been limited to thin films, for example, as taught by J.-C. Kang, S. B. Lalvani, C. A. Melendres. “Electrodeposition and characterization of amorphous Fe—Ni—Cr-based alloys”, J. Appl. Electrochem., 25, 376-383, 1995. DOI: 10.1007/BF00249658 and Hasegawa, S. Yoon, G. Guillonneau, Y. Zhang, C., Frantz, C. Niederberger, A. Weidenkaff, J. Michler, L. Philippe, “The electrodeposition of FeCrNi stainless steel: microstructural changes induced by anode reactions”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., Volume 16, 26375, 2014. DOI: 10.1039c4cp03744h, which further described the microstructure of electrodeposited steel, growing steel in single-chamber and double-chamber electroplating configurations. In a double-chamber electroplating configuration, Kang et al. filled a working electrode (cathode) compartment with an electroplating bath containing the necessary elements for depositing steel and filled the counter electrode (anode) compartment with a saturated potassium chloride solution. The two compartments were connected by a salt bridge that allowed specific ions to transfer between the two compartments. During electroplating, potassium ions flowed from the anode compartment to the cathode compartment, and chloride ions flowed from the cathode compartment to the anode compartment. Kang et al. demonstrated that nanocrystalline structured steels were more readily achieved using double-cell electroplating configuration than in single-chamber electroplating configurations.

It should be understood that the presented disclosure permits the production of a macroscopic object (i.e., the produced structure) with features that are dependent on micro- or nano-scale specifications. It is known that the electroplating process may include carbon capture, such as incorporation of carbon micromaterials or nanomaterials (e.g., carbon nanotubes or C60 buckeyballs, as taught by A K Pal et al.) or with a carbon-containing electrolyte component such as tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate that uses CO2 from the atmosphere (as taught by M. Wu, R. Tang, Y. Chen, S. Wang, W. Wang, X. Chen, N. Mitsuzaki, Z. Chen. “Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to carbon films on stainless steel around room

In some embodiments, template-former 110 may be a system incorporating laser etching, or other editing, of a pattern in one or more sacrificial materials placed or cast upon one or more conductive layer, so that one or more sections of the conductive layers are exposed to electrolyte 140, thereby acting as a growth template. Such a process was disclosed in Weinberg U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/860,426 entitled “Apparatus and method for automated manufacturing of structures with electrically conductive segments”, incorporated by reference. The editing may include addition or removal of conductive connections from sections of the growth template to potentiostat 145. The editing may occur at various operations along the process detailed in FIG. 2, so that deposition of certain materials occurs at some sections of the growth template at certain times and not at others. Template-former may apply segments of the growth template in a reel-to-reel process.

It should be understood that template-former 110 may be completely within container or chamber 125, as illustrated in FIG. 1. In an alternative embodiment, template-former 110 may be in part or completely outside of container or chamber 125 or may travel from inside to outside container or chamber 125. It should be understood that template-former 110 is under the control of a computer. The monitoring device may be an optical camera.

A coil may be situated in the container or other structure or stream, or within one meter of the container or other structure or stream, to apply a magnetic or electrical field to the electrolyte or structure-in-production. It should be understood that the application may assist in realization of the eventual properties of the structure-in-production, for example, by applying a preferred orientation for growth of domains.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a multi-level three-dimensional growth template 120 of Fogure 1 containing flat surfaces 210 and 220 and projections 230, with different electrical pathways along the growth template. Growth plate 120 may be modified at different times in the fabrication process, according to the method shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 2, an important aspect of the disclosed embodiments is that growth template 120 has three-dimensional features (for example, folds, holes, recesses, layers, and/or projections) so that deposition occurs over a substantially larger effective area than in the prior art. The growth template may have internal nested portions as well. FIG. 2 shows an example of a growth template with three-dimensional projections and layers, which could be produced using the methods of patent application Ser. No. 17/860,426 incorporated by reference. For example, the growth template may initially consist of one or more polyimide (or other sacrificial material) layers on a conductive backing, wherein holes may be made in the layer by a laser and conductive projections are grown into the holes via electrodeposition of conductive material, and the sacrificial material between the projections may be removed by sublimation or other heating, mechanical, or chemical processes. In some embodiments, the growth template may be a structure with many internal spaces produced as a sol-gel or through another chemical process.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the method of producing a structure. In operation 310, a plan is generated with the aid of a computer, the plan to direct fabrication of a produced structure. In operation 320, a section of the growth template is fabricated or otherwise modified according to the plan of operation 310, and may include feedback to modify the plan. In operation 330, a solution (e.g., electrolyte) and/or electrode may be added to, removed from, or otherwise modified, with respect to a chamber containing the growth template. In operation 340, a structure is grown using the growth template, either through an electrical connection with an electrode (e.g., for electroplating) or as a seed (e.g., for electroless deposition). As part of operation 340, carbon may be absorbed in the structure-in-production, through the addition of carbon-containing electrolytes or through the addition of particulate materials (e.g., carbon nanotubes) to the solution. In operation 350, the computer is informed by camera or other means as to whether the structure-in-production has been completely formed according to the plan of operation 310. If so, then produced structure may be removed in operation 360. If not, then operations 320-350 may be repeated and/or operation 310 may be adjusted.

In particular, with respect to FIG. 3, which describes an embodiment of the method of the invention, in operation 310 the subsequent operations are designed by computer models which predict plating growth so as to repeatedly arrive at consistent dimensions and specifications of the produced structure. It should be understood that the same or different computer may plan the creation of the projections, and that specification of projections may take into account changes in surface area and other parameters according to the planned operations of production. It should be understood that the plans made by the computer models may be varied so as to create produced structures according to variable specifications desired by users. Such variations may replace the present need for crucibles or forms to create specified shapes from steel.

Referring to operation 320, the growth template may be completely constructed before operation 330 in which an electrolyte is added, or the growth template may be modified (for example, by cutting a section with a laser, or adding additional material using the template-former) while an electrolyte is present or after an electrolyte has been removed.

In operation 330, electrolytes, solutions, or particles may be added or removed using feed lines to the at least one chamber. The produced part may be added or removed or otherwise moved with respect to chamber as part of this operation. It should be understood that non-conductive fluids may be deposited instead of electrolytes into the chamber. For example, covering the walls of the chamber with a conductive material would allow a subsequent operation of electrodeposition of a conductive layer onto the structure-in-production to retain materials deposited by the non-conductive fluid within the produced structure.

Referring to operation 340, carbon may be added or removed from the structure-in-production, for example, through the addition of carbon-containing electrolyte taking CO2 from the atmosphere (e.g., as taught by Wu et al.) or through addition of carbon-containing micromaterials or nanomaterials (e.g., as taught by A. K. Pal, R. K. Roy, S. K. Mandal, S. Gupta, B. Deb. “Electrodeposited carbon nanotube thin films”. Thins Solid Films 476, 288-294, 2005.). It should be understood that pressurization of CO2 and supply to the container or chamber may be needed. It should be understood that the structure-in-production may be moved from one container or chamber to another. It should be understood that the progress of the processes of operation 340 may be monitored, for example, with a camera, and controlled with a computer. During operation 340, with respect to the structure-in-production and/or the container or chamber, energy may be added or removed (for example, heat or light), or stirring may be applied, or magnetic or electrical fields may be applied (for example, to establish a preferential growth direction), or gases or plasmas may be applied (for example, to achieve a desired surface condition). The structure-in-production may be removed from the chamber (for example, for inspection or annealing) and then reinserted. The structure-in-production may be modified, for example, by heating the electrolyte or illuminating the structure-in-production.

Referring to operation 350, a monitoring instrument may be used (for example, with a camera or potentiostat) to establish whether the structure-in-production is complete. If it is not complete, then operations 310-350 may be repeated.

Referring to FIG. 3, operation 360, the produced structure is removed. It should be understood that additional operations (for example, polishing, annealing, removal of electrodes) may be applied to the produced structure after this operation. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “potentiostat” is defined as a device or system that controls the voltages and/or currents needed to conduct electroplating. Said control may be in part conducted by the computer.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “electrolyte or other fluids” includes the possible addition of a surfactant, which may assist in eventual removal of the produced structure. The electrolyte or other fluids may contain iron, and the iron may come from recycled materials or from waste products (for example, ore tailings). Additionally, the term “electrolyte or other fluids” includes the possible addition of carbon micromaterials or carbon nanomaterials which are incorporated into the structure-in-production during the electroplating process.

It should be understood that heating elements may be included within the container or chamber 125 to conduct heating processes such as the above, and that heating elements are not shown. It should be understood that mechanical elements (for example, stirring propellers or mechanical arms) may be included within the container or chamber 125 to conduct processes such as the above, and that such mechanical elements are not shown.

Since electroplating deposition is generally slow (for example, microns per hour), having three-dimensional aspects (for example, projections or folds) of the growth plate that effectively significantly enlarge the surface area allows deposition to occur in many locations at once. As an example, if the projections 330 shown in FIG. 2 are each 3 microns in diameter and 1 centimeter long, so that the area of each projection is about 10−9 square meters. If the projections are separated in distance from one another by 5 microns, and the plates 310 and 320 are 10-cm by 10-cm wide, then there are 400 million projections on each plate, for a total of about one billion projections on the growth template. The total surface area of the projections is about 75 square meters, about a million times more than the area of the plates alone, leading to a much shorter deposition time (e.g., one hour) to build a centimeter-scale or meter-scale produced structure. For the purposes of this disclosure, the increase in surface area realized through use of the projections may be at least ten times higher than if the projections were not present. For the purposes of this disclosure, the increase in surface area realized through use of the projections may be at least 1,000 times higher than if the projections were not present. For the purposes of this disclosure, the increase in surface area realized through use of the projections may be at least one million times higher than if the projections were not present.

It should be understood that the structure-in-production may serve as its own container or chamber 125 (for example, if the structure-in-production contains cavities or wells that can contain electrolytes or other fluids), or that a container or chamber may not be needed to contain electrolytes (for example, if a source such as a stream of electrolytes is poured onto a structure-in-production).

It should be understood that the growth template 120 may contain sub-regions having voids full of air or other gases or non-conductive fluids that, during the electroplating process, remain unmodified voids that are not filled with steel or other conducting materials during the plating process.

It should be understood that the growth template 120 may contain patterns or features that, due to surface tension, do not become filled with electrolyte 140 upon addition of the electrolyte, and thus are not filled with electroplated material during the electroplating process Step 340.

It should be understood that the structure-in-production may be rotated, translated, or otherwise moved to assist in attaining a desired final produced structure.

It should be understood that although the term “steel” is used in this disclosure, the disclosed embodiments may be applied to produced structures containing other structural materials (including alloys and composites) that may be at least in part electrically deposited. As an illustration, disclosed embodiments may be used to “grow a car”.

It should be understood that although the term “structural” is used in this disclosure, the disclosed embodiments may be applied to make produced structures in sheets that may subsequently be formed or cut.

It should be understood that several reference electrodes may be used for multi-location monitoring of the current in the system. Likewise, it should be understood that numerous conducting wires or other electrical connections may be used to connect one or more sections of the structure-in-production or the growth-template to the potentiostat.

It should be understood that the ability to customize the composition of the steel structures using the methods and apparatus disclosed herein will allow the manufacturing of steel components with minimal or no need for rare earths or other rare materials that might be difficult to procure. It should be understood that the nanoscale control of composition allows the designer to take advantage of physical phenomena that are only observable in such small scales.

It should be understood that at least one of the deposited materials may be magnetizable, and that preferential directions of magnetization during the production process may be created through application of a magnetic field or electric during some operations of the fabrication process.

It should be understood that at least one of the deposited materials may be ferroelectric or magnetoferroic, and that preferential directions of magnetization or electrical polarization during the production process may be created through application of a magnetic or electrical field during the fabrication process. It should be understood that at least one of the deposited materials may be antiferromagnetic or paramagnetic.

It should be understood that a heating element (for example, a heating coil near an electrode structure) in the apparatus or a heating period may be included in method in order to cure fluids or anneal steel materials at some point during the production process.

It should be understood that the mechanical properties of the structures produced with the disclosed embodiments will be dependent on the nature of the materials deposited and on the thicknesses and orientations of the structures constructed. For the purposes of this disclosure the term steel materials may include the entire range of steel compositions and steel alloys, other composite materials incorporating steel, or other layered materials that incorporate steel. It should be understood that the thicknesses of at least one of the materials will be less than 10 centimeters, 10 millimeters, one-micron, or less than 100 nanometers, or less than 10 nanometers, or less than 5 nanometers. It should be understood that the magnetic and mechanical properties of the structures produced with the disclosed embodiments may be due to interactions (for example, exchange interactions) between various materials deposited to form the produced structure.

It should be understood that considerable energy savings may be achieved using the disclosed embodiments to produce steel or other structural materials. For example, under conventional hydrogen-furnace methods, it has been estimated that it would require 10 Terawatt-hours to produce 2 million tons of steel. Under the disclosed method, it could require 2 Terawatt-hours.

In some embodiments apparatus comprises a template-former or similar material-producing component that produces conducting material to build at least one segment of a growth template, the growth template having a surface area containing three-dimensional features; a container which includes or retains electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are deposited, removed, or modified onto the growth template or to a structure-in-production; a potentiostat or other controllable voltage source to control the deposition, removal, or modification; at least one electrode to implement said deposition, removal, or modification; a computer to plan and control said deposition, removal, or modification; and a monitoring device that is used by the computer to plan and control said deposition, removal, or modification.

The surface area of the growth template may be at least ten times higher than it would be without the three-dimensional features. The surface area of the growth template may be at least 1,000 times higher than it would be without the three-dimensional features. The surface area of the growth template may be at least one million times higher than it would be without the three-dimensional features.

The electrolyte or other fluid may contain carbon that is deposited onto the structure-in-production.

The monitoring device may be an optical camera.

Heating elements may be in the container. Mechanical elements may be in the container.

The template-former may be a wire spooler.

At least one segment of the growth plate may be formed from an editable structure.

A coil may be situated near or in the container to apply a magnetic or electrical field.

The template-former includes an editing tool. The editing tool may be a laser. The editing tool may be a discharge-forming electrode.

The electrolytes or other fluids may contain iron. The electrolytes or other fluids may contain carbon. The carbon may be in the form or particles. The carbon may be in the form of carbon dioxide derived from the atmosphere.

A method for building structures comprises planning, via a computer, construction of a growth template and deposition, removal, or modification of materials onto the growth template and structure-in-production; production of one or more sections of a growth template; adding, removing, or modifying of electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are to be deposited, removed, or modified onto said growth template or structure-in-production in a container which includes and retains the electrolytes or other fluids; growing, removing or modifying of materials on the growth template or structure-in-production via at least one electrode and a potentiostat or other controllable voltage source; monitoring the structure-in-production via a monitoring device; repeating one or more of the above operations; and removing the produced structure, wherein the growth template or structure-in-production contains three-dimensional structures.

A computer model may be used to predict plating growth and modification so as to repeatedly arrive at consistent component dimensions of the produced structure.

The growth template or structure-in-production may be moved to obtain desired end-product characteristics.

At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain surfactant.

At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain titanium. At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain gold. At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain chromium. At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain iron. At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain carbon. At least one electrolyte or other fluids may contain carbon from the atmosphere. More carbon is removed from the atmosphere than is added to the atmosphere.

The produced structure may contain steel. The growth template or structure-in-production may contain voids that persist unmodified, remaining full or air or gas or non-conducting material during the plating procedure, and are incorporated into the produced structure. The produced structure may contain polymers. One of the polymers may be conductive.

The three-dimensional structures may comprise one or more of as projections, holes, layers, folds, or recesses, that increase the effective surface area of the growth template. The effective surface area may be at least 1,000 times more than if the three-dimensional structures were not present. The effective surface area may be at least one million times more than if the three-dimensional structures were not present.

The three-dimensional structures may be fabricated using chemical means. The three-dimensional structures may be fabricated with an editing tool. The editing tool may be a laser. The editing tool may be discharge-forming electrode.

Annealing, curing, or other processes may be applied while the produced structures are in the container.

The growth template may be formed using a reel to reel process.

Magnetic or electrical fields may applied during the production process to magnetize or polarize one or more of the deposited materials.

Those skilled in the art will recognize, upon consideration of the above teachings, that the above exemplary embodiments and the control system may be based upon use of one or more programmed processors programmed with a suitable computer program. However, the disclosed embodiments could be implemented using hardware component equivalents such as special purpose hardware and/or dedicated processors. Similarly, general purpose computers, microprocessor based computers, micro-controllers, optical computers, analog computers, dedicated processors, application specific circuits and/or dedicated hard wired logic may be used to construct alternative equivalent embodiments.

Moreover, it should be understood that control and cooperation of the above-described components may be provided using software instructions that may be stored in a tangible, non-transitory storage device such as a non-transitory computer readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed on one or more programmed processors, carry out he above-described method operations and resulting functionality. In this case, the term “non-transitory” is intended to preclude transmitted signals and propagating waves, but not storage devices that are erasable or dependent upon power sources to retain information.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate, upon consideration of the above teachings, that the program operations and processes and associated data used to implement certain of the embodiments described above can be implemented using disc storage as well as other forms of storage devices including, but not limited to non-transitory storage media (where non-transitory is intended only to preclude propagating signals and not signals which are transitory in that they are erased by removal of power or explicit acts of erasure) such as for example, Read Only Memory (ROM) devices, Random Access Memory (RAM) devices, network memory devices, optical storage elements, magnetic storage elements, magneto-optical storage elements, flash memory, core memory and/or other equivalent volatile and non-volatile storage technologies without departing from certain embodiments. Such alternative storage devices should be considered equivalents.

While various exemplary embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments but should instead be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a template-former or similar material-producing component that produces conducting material to build at least one segment of a growth template, the growth template having a surface area containing three-dimensional features;

a container which includes or retains electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are deposited, removed, or modified onto the growth template or to a structure-in-production; a potentiostat or other controllable voltage source to control the deposition, removal, or modification;

at least one electrode to implement said deposition, removal, or modification;

a computer to plan and control the deposition, removal, or modification; and

a monitoring device that is used by the computer to plan and control said deposition, removal, or modification.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the surface area of the growth template is at least ten times higher than it would be without the three-dimensional features.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the surface area of the growth template is at least 1,000 times higher than it would be without the three-dimensional features.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the surface area of the growth template is at least one million times higher than it would be without the three-dimensional features.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is an optical camera.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the template-former is a wire spooler.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one segment of the growth plate is formed from an editable structure.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a coil is situated near or in the container to apply a magnetic or electrical field.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the template-former includes an editing tool.

10. A method for building structures, the method including:

planning, via a computer, construction of a growth template and deposition, removal, or modification of materials onto the growth template and structure-in-production; production of one or more sections of a growth template;

adding, removing, or modifying of electrolytes or other fluids from which materials are to be deposited, removed, or modified onto said growth template or structure-in-production in a container which includes and retains the electrolytes or other fluids;

growing, removing or modifying of materials on the growth template or structure-in-production via at least one electrode and a potentiostat or other controllable voltage source;

monitoring the structure-in-production via a monitoring device;

repeating one or more of the above operations; and

removing the produced structure,

wherein the growth template or structure-in-production contains three-dimensional structures.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a computer model is used to predict plating growth and modification so as to repeatedly arrive at consistent component dimensions of the produced structure.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the growth template or structure-in-production is moved to obtain desired end-product characteristics.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the produced structure contains steel.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the growth template or structure-in-production contains voids that persist unmodified, remaining full or air or gas or non-conducting material during the growing procedure, and are incorporated into the produced structure.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the produced structure contains polymers.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the three-dimensional structures comprise one or more of as projections, holes, layers, folds, or recesses, that increase the effective surface area of the growth template.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the effective surface area is at least 1,000 times more than if the three-dimensional structures were not present.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the effective surface area is at least one million times more than if the three-dimensional structures were not present.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the three-dimensional structures are fabricated with an editing tool.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein magnetic or electrical fields are applied during the production process to magnetize or polarize one or more of the deposited materials.