Pan Yang

Pan Yang

Higher Degree Research


I received the MPhil in 2018 and now a PhD candidate (final thesis submitted) at Western Sydney University. My research interest is to develop the interparticle force model at nano scale and investigate the dynamic self-assembly of nanoparticles.


The Interactions between Gold Nanoparticles and their Self-assembly

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In this research, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is firstly utilized to calculate the interactions (e.g., potential energies and forces) between AuNPs under an applied external force. And several effects (particle size, shape, rotation, surface patch, surfactant, as well as configuration) on their interactions are tested; the explicit force models between pairwise AuNPs have been established as a function of their surface separation. Then, such force models are integrated into discrete element method (DEM) to explore their self-assembly process that the mean CN of 3 nm up to the value of 5.99 and form large clusters at the equilibrated state. This study allows us to evaluate the interparticle forces (non-contact attraction) by the alternative numerical method (MD simulation) than the classical Hamaker approach, and, more importantly, the MD-DEM coupling approach opens a new window to explore self-assembly process of nanoparticles and observe the final formed nanostructures.