Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns were measured on a PANalytical X'Pert powder diffractometer, operating in Bragg-Brentano geometry. The diffractometer was equipped with a Cu LFF Xray tube operated at 45 kV and 40 mA (Cu Kα), a BBHD mirror, a Malvern PANalytical MPD Pro (PW3050/60 goniometer) with 200 mm goniometer radius and an X'Celerator semiconductor detector (RTMS "real-time multiple strip" technology). Measurements were performed for diffraction angles 2θ ranging from 20° to 80° with a step size of 0.0201°. The samples were prepared according to the flatspecimen technique, using a flat Si single crystal wafer as sample holder. PXRD patterns were interpreted using the program X'Pert HighScore Plus. The crystallite sizes were calculated from diffraction patterns using Rietveld refinement. These parameters were used to estimate the length of the SEM and EDX analyses were performed using a FEI Quanta FEG 250 Scanning Electron Microscope, at 5 kV accelerating voltage and ~10 mm of working distance in high vacuum mode. The micrographs were taken on samples that were previously coated with Au:Pd 60:40 for 30 seconds with 30 mA using a Q150T S sputter coater (Quorum Technologies). The thickness of the deposited layer was about 8 nm. EDX measurements were performed in conjunction with SEM using an Octane Elite Super detector, with an acceleration voltage of 20 kV. N 2-physisorption measurements were performed to calculate the specific surface area of the samples from the respective adsorption isotherms by applying the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) theory. The measurements were performed using an ASAP2020 adsorption analyzer (Micromeritics), after degassing the sample under vacuum (< 13 μbar) at 300 °C for 6 hours. The surface area calculation (for 0.5 < P/P 0 < 0.3) was automatically performed using the program ASAP 2020 V4.00.