## 1 Introduction  
Ever since the market's introduction to them by Sony corporation in the early 1990s, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been a triumph in many applications and have changed the world tremendously, especially with the rapid development of 3C-markets (computer, communication, and consumer), electric power tools, and electric vehicles. Meanwhile, much effort is devoted to meet the demand for battery development and innovation, such demands include higher power density, higher energy density, rapid chargeability, and a longer cycle life, while lowering the costs simultaneously. Nowadays, more and more automobile industries are seeking to find an alternative and sustainable solution for mobility. Many have been committed to developing hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). However, the major barrier for BEV compared to conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines is the range of a single charge, which is much lower than a fully fueled conventional automobile (generally 480 km to 640 km). For example, popular electric vehicles can travel up to 400 km after fully charged [1]. Besides, due to the limited space in BEV, it is necessary to achieve higher volumetric energy density. At the same time, the costs per kilowatt-hour are decisive factors to ensure a successful BEV integration into the automobile market. Over the last decades, LIBs have become more and more popular and are considered to be an important potential power source for electric vehicles due to their high energy density and low weight compared to conventional batteries [2]. One of the commercially successful cathode materials for LIBs is Li(Ni\({}_{1/3}\)Mn\({}_{1/3}\)Co\({}_{1/3}\))O\({}_{2}\) (nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide, NMC 111), with a gravimetric capacity of 160 mAh/g [3]. However, much attention is focused on increasing the capacity by increasing nickel content. Most recently, Li(Ni\({}_{0.6}\)Mn\({}_{0.2}\)Co\({}_{0.2}\))O\({}_{2}\) (NMC 622), with a gravimetric capacity of 187 mAh/g [3], has become the mainstream material for cathodes, due to its higher capacity and energy density compared to NMC 111. Besides, cobalt is a very expensive component in comparison to nickel and manganese. Hence, the cost for cathode material is reduced by lowering the cobalt content. In addition, the overall cost of the cell will be decreased using NMC 622 instead of NMC 111, since about 1/4 of the cell cost comes from the cathode side [4]. The most practical approach to increase the energy density of a battery is to manufacture a thick electrode, which will increase the ratio of active material to inactive materials, such as the current collector and separator foils. Therefore, less energy consumption is required for processing steps, such as electrode sheet cutting and stacking. However, according to Ragone chart, specific energy is inversely correlated to specific power [5], which means the power of battery declines with increasing energy. That indicates that C-rate has a great impact on Li-ion diffusion inside electrode during charging and discharging. The conventional approach to enhance energy density by simply increasing cathode thickness leads to a deterioration of rate capability and long-term cycling performance, especially at high discharge rates, mainly due to the high internal resistance, poor mechanical integrity of thick electrode, and diffusion overpotential [6]. In order to compensate for the capacity loss of thick cathodes at higher C-rates, three-dimensional (3D) architectures were generated on electrodes using ultrafast laser processing technique. It was proven that the generated 3D architectures improved battery performance parameters, such as capacity retention and cycle stability, especially for high C-rates [7; 8; 9].