Nickel-metal-hydride (Ni-MH) batteries are prepared with thick-film and thin-film technologies based on porous ceramic substrates. The porosity and the mean pore diameter of BP ceramic substrates prepared from the argils increases from 19.81% and 0.0432 mum to 29.81% and 0.224 mum, respectively, upon increasing the ethyl cellulose content in the BP argil from 0 to 0.79%. The pore diameter Of Al2O3 substrates prepared from Al2O3 powder is mainly distributed in the range 0.01-0.5 gm. The distribution of the pore diameters of BP ceramic substrates lies in two ranges, namely: 0.04-2 mum and 10-300 mum. Using BP ceramic plates and Al2O3 plates as substrates to fabricate thick-film Ni-MH batteries, the optimal electroactive material utilization in the batteries is 77.0 and 71.1%, respectively. On increasing the screen-printing number for preparing the cathode (Ni(OH)(2)) from I to 3, the discharge capacity of the thick-film battery increases from 0.2917 to 0.7875 mAh, and the utilization in the battery decreases from 71.0 to 53.0%. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.