  A theory describing the forces governing the self-assembly of nanoparticles
at the solid-liquid interface is developed. In the process, new theoretical
results are derived to describe the effect that the field penetration of a
point-like particle, into an electrode, has on the image potential energy, and
pair interaction energy profiles at the electrode-electrolyte interface. The
application of the theory is demonstrated for gold and ITO electrode systems,
promising materials for novel colour-tuneable electrovariable smart mirrors and
mirror-window devices respectively. Model estimates suggest that
electrovariability is attainable in both systems and will act as a guide for
future experiments. Lastly, the generalisability of the theory towards
electrovariable, nanoplasmonic systems suggests that it may contribute towards
the design of intelligent metamaterials with programmable properties.
