The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 109.12 (2011): 124306
and may be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/109/12/10.1063/1.3600222We report on the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by metallic nanoparticles in the radio and far infrared frequency range, and subsequent heating of nanoparticle solutions. A recent series of papers has measured considerable radio frequency (RF) heating of gold nanoparticle solutions. In this work, we show that claims of RF heating by metallic nanoparticles are not supported by theory. We analyze several mechanisms by which nonmagnetic metallic nanoparticles can absorb low frequency radiation, including both classical and quantum effects. We conclude that none of these absorption mechanisms, nor any combination of them, can increase temperatures at the rates recently reported. A recent experiment supports this finding.Support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación Grant No. FIS2008-04209 and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (metamaterial Grant No. SSF RMA08-0109) is acknowledged
