SEM imaging and EDS mapping show that the ML (Ni) surface consists of dendritic growths with exposed GnP flakes embedded throughout (indicated by arrows in Figure ). Crosssectioning identifies that the dendritic structure arises from the non-basally aligned attachment of the GnP nanosheets to the growing copper layer, followed by Cu nanoparticle growth encapsulating and fixing the nanosheet into position (Figure ). This nanosheet attachment/co-growth process occurs during the whole deposition process. The exposed GnPs on the surface of the composite layer (which were not fully encapsulated with copper before the end of the composite deposition step) were instead found to be encased by nickel nanoparticles. The origins of the dendritic growth are confirmed by comparing to the structure of the GnP-free ML (Ni) coating, as the absence of GnP in the copper lubricating layer results in a highly ordered and uniform coating, accompanied by a flat, ~500 nm thick nickel flash on its surface (Figure ). EDS mapping of both the top surface and crosssection of GnP-free ML (Ni) show that the coating consists mostly of a ~25-30 μm thick copper/graphene dendritic superstructure, that is evenly coated with a sub-micron thick nickel layer on its surface. In contrast, SEM images of the ML (Cu) coatings surfaces and cross-sections (Figure ), which contain the same copper/graphene dendritic superstructure, show evidence of smoothing on the surface of the composite layer, possibly as a result of the top-coating with copper. It is suggested that the copper-flash layer was acting as a levelling layer which reduces the surface roughness, whereas the Ni-flash layer in ML (Ni) systems appears to have limited-to-no levelling effects upon plating onto the existing superstructure, uniformly wrapping around all accessible copper surfaces of the coating.