Well-crystallized and electrochemically active Li
1-xNi
1+xO
2 and LiCoO
2 thin-film electrodesfor lithium rechargeable microbatteries can be fabricated in a single synthetic step usingan economical, less energy consuming, and environmentally friendly "Soft Solution Processing" method in a concentrated LiOH solution at fixed temperatures between 20 and 200
Cwithout any postsynthesis annealing. While the purely hydrothermal treatment of cobaltplates directly leads to the formation of LiCoO
2 films, Ni(OH)
2 films on nickel plates arefabricated under the same hydrothermal conditions. By using the electrochemical-hydrothermal approach under supplementary galvanostatic charge with the same hydrothermal conditions, Li
1-xNi
1+xO
2 films can only be effectively prepared in a single syntheticstep from nickel plates. Such different activation methods required for the preparation ofLiCoO
2 and Li
1-xNi
1+xO
2 films respectively can be ascribed to the different metal cationvalencies between dissolved nickel species (that contain divalent nickel) and dissolved cobaltspecies (that should possess trivalent cobalt).