a
d
b
c
FIG. 2: Typical KMC results for the ﬁnal dried-in nanoparticle structures resulting from the evaporative
dewetting processes of nanoparticle solutions (nanoﬂuids) in the case of (a) a spinodal-like process at µ=
−2.55, (b) nucleation and growth of holes at µ = −2.3, (c) unstable fronts at µ = −2.3 and low mobility
M = 5, and (d) unstable fronts at µ= −2.3 and medium mobility M = 10. The starting conﬁguration in
(a) and (b) is a homogeneous liquid ﬁlm with uniformly distributed particles whereas in (c) and (d) a hole
at the center is nucleated ‘by hand’. The remaining parameters are (a,b) M = 50, ϵnl = 2.0, ϵnn = 1.5,
ρav
n = 0.2, kT = 0.3, MC steps= 500, domain size 1200 ×1200; (c,d) εnn = 2.0, ϵnl = 1.5, ρav
n = 0.2,
kT = 0.2, MC steps = 3000, domain size 1200 ×1200. Lattice sites occupied by particles are coloured
black, and the empty sites are coloured white.
11