The interfacial reaction, metal transformations, and nonmetal bond types of silver ultra-thin film deposited on polyurethane (PU) based interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) substrate by the liquor-phase reduction at room temperatures were studied by atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The IPN substrate was prepared by dip-pulling precursors onto a silicon wafer or a glass plate, followed by solidi. cation at room temperature. The interpenetrate structures of IPN with two crosslinked networks restricted the aggregation of silver during the reduction and deposition. The devised -OH terminal group in PU simplified the determination of reactive site in IPN and reinforced the adhesion between IPN and silver through interfacial reaction. The XPS results, which matched well with the ATR-FTIR results, verified the chemical reactive site of PU in IPN with silver in the oxide state. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.