"Anode-free" is a bit of a misnomer; there is still a charge collector and electrical connection on the anode side. It just means that, when manufactured, the anode-side charge collector is bare (no lithium electroplated onto it); the lithium is all at the cathode. During charging, lithium gets deposited onto the anode charge collector, and during discharging, the lithium migrates back to the cathode.

More here:

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2024/ta/d4ta0200...