  In this contribution, we study situations in which nanoparticles in a fluid
are strongly heated, generating high heat fluxes. This situation is relevant to
experiments in which a fluid is locally heated using selective absorption of
radiation by solid particles. We first study this situation for different types
of molecular interactions, using models for gold particles suspended in octane
and in water. As already reported in experiments, very high heat fluxes and
temperature elevations (leading eventually to particle destruction) can be
observed in such situations. We show that a very simple modeling based on
Lennard-Jones interactions captures the essential features of such experiments,
and that the results for various liquids can be mapped onto the Lennard-Jones
case, provided a physically justified (corresponding state) choice of
parameters is made. Physically, the possibility of sustaining very high heat
fluxes is related to the strong curvature of the interface that inhibits the
formation of an insulating vapor film.
