Electrophotoconductor and image forming apparatus

Abstract

An organic photoconductive material which is useful as a raw material compound for a variety of functional materials and makes it possible to implement an electrophotoconductor which is excellent in terms of the charge transporting performance, excellent in terms of dissolution in solvents and compatibility with resins, and excellent in terms of both the electrical properties and durability is provided. An example is an asymmetric bishydroxy compound which can be represented by the following structural formula (1aa). This compound is contained in a charge transforming layer 4 or a surface protective layer 5 of an electrophotoconductor 18. As a result, an electrophotoconductor 18 which is excellent in terms of the electrical properties and durability and can stably form high quality images without image defects such as black dots can be implemented.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a single layer type electrophotoconductor 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a single layer type electrophotoconductor 12 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a single layer type electrophotoconductor 13 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a single layer type electrophotoconductor 14 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a multilayer type electrophotoconductor 15 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a multilayer type electrophotoconductor 16 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a multilayer type electrophotoconductor 17 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional diagram schematically showing the configuration of a main portion of a multilayer type electrophotoconductor 18 according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a side diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus 20 according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. An electrophotoconductor containing an asymmetric bishydroxy compound that can be represented by the general formula (1):

2. The electrophotoconductor according to claim 1, in which said asymmetric bishydroxy compound of the general formula (1), in which one of Ar2 and Ar3 is phenylene group and the other is naphthylene group and R1, R1′, R2, R2′, R3 and R3′ are all hydrogen atom, can be represented by the following general formula (2):

3. The electrophotoconductor according to claim 1, in which said asymmetric bishydroxy compound of the general formula (1), in which one of Ar2 and Ar3 is phenylene group and the other is naphthylene group, Ar4 is phenylene group which may have an arbitrary substituent group, Ar5 is hydrogen atom and R1, R1′, R2, R2′, R3 and R3′ are all hydrogen atom, can be represented by the following general formula (3):

4. The electrophotoconductor according to claim 1, in which said asymmetric bishydroxy compound of the general formula (I), in which one of Ar2 and Ar3 is phenylene group and the other is naphthylene group, Ar4 is phenylene group, Ar5 is hydrogen atom and R1, R1′, R2, R2′, R3 and R3′ are all hydrogen atom, can be represented by the following general formula (4):

5. The electrophotoconductor according to claim 1, in which said asymmetric bishydroxy compound of the general formula (1), in which one of Ar2 and Ar3 is phenylene group and the other is naphthylene group, Ar4 is phenylene group, Ar5 is hydrogen atom, R1 and R1′ are both hydrogen atom and n is 0, can be represented by the following general formula (5):

6. An electrophotoconductor, in which a photosensitive layer and a surface protective layer are layered on a conductive support in this order, and at least one of the photosensitive layer or the surface protective layer contains the asymmetric bishydroxy compound according to any one of claims 1.

7. An electrophotoconductor according to claim 6, in which the said photosensitive layer has a multilayer structure of a charge generating layer which contains a charge generating substance and a charge transporting layer containing the asymmetric bishydroxy compound according to any one of claims 1.

8. An image forming apparatus, comprising: the electrophotoconductor according to claim 6;a charging means for charging said electrophotoconductor;a light exposing means for exposing said charged electrophotoconductor to light; anda developing means for developing an electrostatic latent image formed through exposure to light.

9. An image forming apparatus according to claim 8, in which the said image forming apparatus has a contact charge as the charging means.