0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
h
p
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 x/L
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
a
b
c
FIG. 6: Proﬁles of the ﬁnal dried-in nanoparticle layer for the dewetting of a suspension of nanoparticles
in a volatile solvent that partially wets the substrate for (a) high ( Ω = 10−3), (b) medium (Ω = 2 ×10−6)
and (c) low (Ω = 0 .78 ×10−8) evaporation rates, for the case when χ = H/l0 = 1.09, the lateral length
scale is ℓ =
√
γ/κH with κ = (Sp/l0) exp(d0/l0)H being an energy scale related to wettability and the
vertical length scale is H =
√
2SLW /κd0. The remaining dimensionless parameters are the evaporation
number Ω = Qeη0ℓ2/H3, the diffusion number Γ = D(0)η0/Hκ = 10−4 and the dimensionless chemical
potential M = Hµ/κ = −0.0035. The system size is L= 19500ℓ. Film thickness and hp in the plots are
scaled by the precursor ﬁlm thickness.
circular throughout the dewetting and evaporation process. In this case one should interprete the
coordinate xas the distance from the centre of the circular ﬁlm.
We start with a ﬁlm of heighth0 of ﬁnite length sitting on a precursor ﬁlm and assume that the ﬁlm
contains nanoparticles at constant concentration φ0. The chosen parameter values ensure that the
ﬁlm of thickness h0 is linearly stable. As we do not incorporate noise, no nucleation of additional
holes can occur (even with noise the probability would be extremely low). Without evaporation the
ﬁlm dewets ‘classically’ by a retraction of the initially step-like front. After a short time, surface
tension smoothes the proﬁle of the receding front and a capillary rim forms that collects all the
20