The EDS analyses and the SEM imaging of the NiCo-mixtures were performed under Zeiss Supra 40 (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) equipped with a Schottky-field emitter. All samples were coated with carbon before analysis. A 5 kV beam voltage was applied for imaging of all samples. An energy-dispersive X-ray (EDS) system of type UltraDry SDD (Silicon Drift Detector) with a nominal crystal area of 100 mm 2 from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA) was used for the qualitative and quantitative analyses of the elemental composition. For this, highly flat sample areas (10 µm x 10 µm) were selected for an EDS quantitative analysis with the software Pathfinder (v. 1.3, 2018). The corresponding EDS spectra were collected at 15 keV and a standardless quantification was performed. Due to the rough sample surface morphology, the obtained elemental compositions are estimated to exhibit an error of <15% atom. based on multiple measurements. However, quantitative comparisons of the relative results for different samples obtained under the same experimental conditions (including sample geometries) are more accurate than the absolute values. Qualitative EDS maps were acquired over selected individual crystals indicating the spatial distribution of the elements.