XAS (X-ray absorption spectroscopy) measurements both at the near edge structure (XANES) and extended fine structure (EXAFS) were performed at the BAMline (BESSY-II, Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy Berlin, Germany) on the solid powders to determine and compare the coordination environment of the different phases. The beam was monochromatized using a double-crystal monochromator (DCM) with a Si crystallographic orientation of [111]. The size of the beam was 3 mm (h) x 1 mm (v). The measurements were performed at Co-K edge (7709 eV) and Ni-K edge (8333 eV) in transmission geometry, with two ionization chambers as detectors. The excitation energy was varied from 7606 eV to 8678 eV for Co and 8230 eV to 9302 eV for Ni, with varying energy steps. For the pre-edge region, the energy was varied in 10 eV steps; for the region around the edge, energy was tuned first in 0.5 eV steps, then in 1 eV steps and in the EXAFS region with a constant step in the k-space of 0.04 Å -1 . The associated uncertainties were experimentally determined by measuring the cobalt and nickel metal foils, 10 times each. A value of ±0.3 eV was obtained for both systems.