Sustainable end-of-life management is crucial for widely used lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), particularly those employing high-energy and expensive nickel-rich layered oxides (NRLOs). Unlike other cathode active materials, NRLOs face higher production costs and exhibit more complex, severe degradation-including phase evolution, stoichiometric imbalance, surface contamination, and morphological damage-necessitating the development of efficient and high-value recycling technologies. Direct recycling including direct regeneration and direct upcycling offers promising closed-loop solutions specific...
