Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the primary power source for portable electronic devices, electric vehicles (EVs), and energy storage systems (ESS) due to their high energy and power densities. However, with an average lifespan of mostly 5-10 years, million tons of end-of-life (EoL) LIBs will be produced by 2030. Recycling spent LIBs will bring new opportunities in reducing constraints imposed by material scarcity, enhancing environmental sustainability, and providing a safer and more resilient circular supply chain. The current commercialized recycling methods, including pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, require extreme conditions, such as high temperatures and strong acids, to destroy the chemical bonds. The subsequent extraction process is lengthy, with high energy consumption and cost. A new direct recycling pathway has been brought to the field, defined as recycling valuable components without breaking down the chemical structure. Direct recycling can be efficient, cost and energy effective, but the currently developed methods can only be demonstrated at a lab scale due to the lack of robustness and tedious pre-treatments. Recently, we have identified that the direct recycling method combining hydrothermal relithiation and subsequent short annealing can successfully restore the composition, structural defects, and electrochemical performance of different spent cathode materials to the same level as the pristine material. More importantly, the method is extended to recover spent cathode materials with various impurities, such as conductive agents, binders, residual salts, and aluminum shreds. Such purification has been integrated into the regeneration process, which enables a practical pathway for cathode direct recycling. The related technology is named “Purification and Regeneration Integrated Materials Engineering (“PRIME”) and has been granted by the Department of Energy (DOE) under Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”). The PRIME process merges the advantages of direct cathode recycling techniques with the novel purification strategy to improve the quality of recovered cathode materials with significantly reduced unit operation steps, which can be scaled up to an industrial level. Meanwhile, the PRIME process can recover the cathode with high consistency and yield. This new direct recycling process will provide a solid technical foundation for mass production of the next generation of LIBs recycling.