The chemical interaction between copper and the emeraldine salt of polyanil
ine as deposited from a commercially produced dispersion has been investiga
ted using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. On clean copper foil in vacuum
the green conductive form remains stable, but upon exposure to air it is tr
ansferred within 20 s to the blue non-conductive emeraldine base form and a
t the same time Cu gets oxidized to Cu(I). Upon prolonged exposure to air a
lso Cu(II) oxide formation is observed. Copper deposited onto the emeraldin
e salt of polyaniline does not chemically change the polyaniline and due to
the weak metal/polymer interaction initially small copper islands are form
ed on the polyaniline which grow in size upon further copper deposition.