Laser cutting of electrodes for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) has been studied to achieve high cut‐edge quality. However, the effects of contaminants generated during laser processing and the influence of cut‐edge quality on battery performance have not been sufficiently clarified. Consequently, mechanical cutting is still predominantly used in industrial electrode fabrication. In this study, the effects of active material thickness and compression on laser cutting of electrodes are analyzed in terms of cut‐edge quality, the amount of active material removal (AMR), and battery performance. Regardless of compression, relatively thin electrodes exhibit wider kerf widths and top widths compared to thick electrodes. Furthermore, six distinct physical phenomena were observed on the cut surfaces of the electrodes after laser processing. In terms of material removal, more active material is removed from thick or uncompressed electrodes than from thin or compressed ones during laser cutting. Finally, a half‐cell performance test was conducted to compare the areal capacity of electrodes with different configurations after laser cutting. The compressed electrodes exhibited higher areal capacity than the uncompressed ones, attributed to the reduced removal of active material during the cutting process.
Park et al. (2026) studied this question.