Not single crystal, densified poly crystaline.
Basic principle is still valid.
Did you know the turbine blades in modern jet engines are SINGLE crystal?
If they can do that with titanium, the same techniques can be fine-tuned for nickel electrodes!
Yes, it's not exactly an earth-shattering innovation. It's a simple process optimization with an awful lot of cut and polish work before putting it under a SEM.
Bump