Evaluation the Influence of Impurities on the Occurrence of a Local Surface Plasmon Resonance Effect

A method for the electrophoretic deposition of nanocluster coatings from a colloidal silver solution onto the receiving surface of silicon photovoltaic converters (PVCs) has been proposed. It has been shown that the resulting coatings exhibit a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. A phenomenological model to assess the effect of nonmetallic impurities that can be incorporated during coating deposition on the occurrence of the SPR effect has been proposed. Calculations in the COMSOL 5.5 Multiphysics environment have shown that, in the absence of impurities, the SPR condition is satisfied in a wavelength range of 270–370 nm. The presence of nonmetallic impurities decreases the probability of the occurrence of an SPR and makes it impossible at impurity concentrations of approximately 0.1 at %. The experiment has shown full compliance with the calculations.