JPS6033562A - Manufacture of electrophotographic sensitive body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily obtain a photosensitive body having a photosensitive layer roughened on the surface by mechanically roughening the surface of the first photoconductive layer formed on a substrate and vapor depositing a photoconductor at a specified substrate temp. CONSTITUTION:A photoconductor, such as Se or its alloy, is vapor-deposited to a conductive substrate 1 made of Al, Fe, Cu, or the like, and the obtained photoconductive layer 2 is worked on the surface by cylinder grinding, liquid honing, or the like to roughen its surface. A photoconductor is vapor-deposited to the layer 2 while the temp. of the substrate 1 is kept at a temp. not above the glass transition point of the photoconductor to form the second photoconductive layer 3 having a desirable roughened surface 4, preferably having a roughness of 0.1-2mum. Said substrate temp. is selected in accordance with the kinds of photoconductors, a temp. below about 180 deg.C is suitable, and preferably 100- 170 deg.C, in the case of using As2Se3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical field to which the invention pertains] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor in which the surface of a photosensitive layer is roughened.

[Prior art and its problems]

Conventionally, electrophotographic photoreceptors have been required to have a smooth surface for image formation, reliability, and the like. For example, this Dan photoreceptor generally uses a photoreceptor using an Se alloy, in which an amorphous Se alloy is deposited on a conductive substrate by vacuum evaporation or the like and used as a photoconductive layer. The surface is a glossy smooth surface (mirror surface). If the surface of the photoconductive layer is smooth, the adhesion with the toner increases, resulting in a disadvantage that the transferability, cleaningability, and separation of the transfer paper are impaired. Furthermore, an excessive amount of cleaning equipment is required to remove residual toner, which damages the surface of the photoreceptor, which shortens the life of the photoreceptor and causes deterioration in image quality due to poor cleaning.

Recently, it has been found that it is more effective for the surface of the photoreceptor to be roughened to some extent in order to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks. Although there are several proposals for roughening the surface of the photoconductive layer by adding fine irregularities to the surface, none of them have been put to practical use due to industrial difficulties. Particularly in the process of forming a photoconductive layer, it is difficult to appropriately roughen the surface of the photoconductive layer made of a fluid photoconductive material such as Se-based by conventional vapor deposition methods. It has been believed that surface roughening due to adhesion of foreign matter or contact with foreign matter during or after formation of the photoconductive layer causes surface crystallization and impairs reliability.
AszSe has a high glass transition point and is resistant to contact with foreign matter, so the surface of the photoconductive layer is
For example, the surface can be roughened by direct surface processing by cylindrical grinding, superfinishing, etc.

However, the method of directly processing the surface of the photoconductive layer is unfavorable in terms of electrostatic properties, such as changes in the surface structure resulting in poor charge retention and no charge being carried. In addition, the surface of the conductive substrate is roughened by cylindrical grinding, liquid honing, etc., and the conditions for the photoconductive formation process are adjusted, for example, by setting the substrate temperature at the time of vapor deposition to below the glass transition point in Se-based photoreceptors. There is a method of roughening the surface of the photoconductive layer by making appropriate settings. Although this method does not have any problems in terms of electrostatic properties, it does not provide a stable, rough surface on the surface of the substrate, so it is difficult to form a stable, rough surface on the surface of the photoconductive layer even with this method.

[Purpose of the invention]

In response to this problem, the present invention provides a photoreceptor with a roughened surface of the photoconductive layer to improve toner transfer performance, transfer paper separation performance, and cleaning performance.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor that can be formed using the following methods.

[Key points of the invention]

The present invention comprises a step of vapor depositing a first photoconductive layer made of a selenium-based material on the surface of a conductive substrate, a step of roughening the surface of the first photoconductive layer formed by this step, and a step of roughening the surface of the first photoconductive layer formed by this step. A second photoconductive layer made of a selenium-based material is similarly deposited on the surface of the first photoconductive layer. It is something that is created.

Generally, the viscosity of Se or Sti base metals changes suddenly near the glass transition point (Tg), and the fluidity fluctuates. That is, at temperatures near or above 'rg, the fluidity increases, and at temperatures below 1, the fluidity decreases. The photoconductive layer made of amorphous 8e or Se alloy is formed by a vacuum deposition method, and the fluidity of the 8e or Se alloy on the substrate can be changed by changing the substrate temperature set at the time of vapor deposition.

The present invention utilizes the above-mentioned properties to form a first photoconductive layer by vapor deposition using a conventional method, and roughens the surface of this first photoconductive layer 12, so that this roughness appears on the layer surface. Thus, the second photoconductive layer is formed by vapor deposition at a temperature below Tg.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a photoreceptor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 is A4. It is a conductive substrate made of metal or alloy such as Fe, Cu, etc., and its surface is processed by cylindrical grinding, liquid honing, etc., but it is not necessary to have a limited roughness. A first photoconductive layer 2 made of selenium or a selenium alloy is deposited on this substrate 1, and its surface is roughened by surface processing such as cylindrical grinding or liquid honing. Furthermore, As, Ses
A rough surface 4 is formed on the surface of the second photoconductive layer 3 by depositing it at a temperature below the glass transition point of As2Se3.

Example 1: Processing the surface of the conductive substrate 10 by cylindrical grinding 1 to 1, Substrate 1
As and S were deposited to a thickness of 60 μm while maintaining the temperature at 230°C.
Deposit e3. The surface of the first photoconductive layer 2 of the photoreceptor thus obtained is roughened by superfinishing. The surface of the conductive layer 2 was polished to 0.1 with a -II-2000 grindstone.
A roughness of ˜0.5 μm was provided. If left as is, the charge retention rate will be 50% or less compared to conventional products due to electrostatic properties, and no charge can be loaded, which is not practical for practical purposes. Furthermore, using the same evaporation source and keeping the temperature of the substrate 1 at 150°C,
When the second photoconductive layer 3 was formed by vapor deposition to a thickness of ~5 μm, a rough surface with a roughness of 0.1 to 0.4 μm could be obtained on the surface.

Example 2: The surface of the conductive substrate 1 was processed by cylindrical grinding, the temperature of the substrate 1 was maintained at 150° C., and the AsgSes layer 1 was formed to a thickness of 60° C.
The surface of the photoconductive layer 1 was roughened by super-〇-finishing.The surface of the photoconductive layer 1 was
The roughness was made 0.1-0.5 μm using a P2000 grindstone, and As2Se3 was deposited to a thickness of 1-5 μm while keeping the temperature of the substrate 1 at 150°C.
A second photoconductive layer 3 roughened to a roughness of 0.4 μm could be obtained.

The electrostatic properties of the photoreceptors obtained in Examples 1 and 2 were the same as those of conventional products, the image quality was good, and no defects such as white spots on the images occurred. Since a photosensitive layer with a roughened surface was obtained, toner transfer properties, transfer paper separation properties, and cleaning properties were improved.

The method of roughening the first layer is by super-finishing with a grindstone (
8F), a method of polishing by rotating a drum while rotating a whetstone, a method of using emery paper, abrasive cloth, etc. in place of the whetstone, etc. may also be used. Liquid honing is also effective because it can provide a matte finish that does not easily leave processing marks on the image.

The unevenness appearing on the surface of the photosensitive layer (second conductive layer) has a roughness in the range of 0.1 to 2 μm, particularly 0.1 to 1 μm.
The width of the unevenness in the surface direction is preferably smaller than the particle size of the toner used.

If the unevenness is larger than this, spot-like charging unevenness will occur, resulting in a defect on the image. The blade for mata cleaning gets scratched, shortening its lifespan. If the unevenness is small, desired cleaning performance cannot be obtained.

In the process of forming the second photoconductive layer, the temperature of the substrate greatly influences the surface of the photosensitive layer, as described above, and therefore needs to be set within an appropriate range. The temperature of the substrate that makes it possible to roughen the surface of the photosensitive layer is usually 180°C or less when As2Se3 is used as a photoconductive material, particularly 100 to 170°C.
is appropriate. In addition, if the vapor deposition thickness of the second photoconductive layer is selected to be too thick, the surface will be smoothed, and if it is selected to be small, the roughness of the surface will become large. need to be adjusted. □ [Effects of the Invention] The present invention is characterized by roughening the surface of the first photoconductive layer formed on the conductive substrate by mechanically processing the surface, and then increasing the temperature of the substrate onto the roughened photoconductive layer. A second photoconductive layer is formed by vapor deposition at a temperature below the glass transition point of the photoconductive material to be vapor-deposited to obtain an electrophotographic photoreceptor having a rough surface, which improves the transferability of toner and the separation of transfer paper. Since it has become possible to stably manufacture an electrophotographic photoreceptor with good cleaning properties and good image quality, the effect obtained is extremely significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of an electrophotographic photoreceptor according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Conductive substrate, 2... First photoconductive layer, 3...
As29- Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A step of vapor depositing a first photoconductive layer made of a Se-based photoconductive material on the surface of a conductive substrate, and roughening the surface of the first photoconductive layer formed in this step. and a step of depositing a second photoconductive layer made of a Se-based photoconductive material on the roughened surface of the first photoconductive layer. 2. A method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor in which the photoconductive material is selenium and arsenic in the method described in claim 1. 3) In the method described in claim 1 or 2, A method for producing an electrophotographic photoreceptor, wherein the step of depositing a photoconductive layer is performed at a temperature lower than the glass transition point of the photoconductive material. 4) A method for manufacturing an electrophotographic photoreceptor, in which the surface of the first photoconductive layer is roughened to a roughness of 0.1 to 2 μm in the method according to claim 1.