Figure 9.

(a) 3D nanoparticle thin film of thickness h adhered on a semi-infinite substrate. The bottom view, as seen looking across the substrate, highlights the “patched” interface. (b) 3D pillar model: effective NP layer (q < z < h); pillars layer (0 < z < q); semi-infinite substrate (z < 0). The bottom view, as seen looking across the substrate, highlights the similarity with the “patched” interface of the real case. (c) Reduction of the periodic 3D pillar model to a single 3D unit cell of base size L*L. Adapted from ref. [93].