Electrophotographic recording material containing metal-free phthalocyanines

• US 6,174,635 B1
• Filed: 03/23/1995
• Issued: 01/16/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aeg Elektrofotografie
• Original Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert N.V.
• Inventors: Kaletta, Bernd, De Meutter, Stefaan, Terrell, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Rodee, Christopher D.
• Application Number:
  US08/409,946
• Time in Patent Office: 2,126 Days
• Field of Search: 430/58, 430/78, 430/56, 430/59.4
• US Class Current: 430/56
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 5/047 characterised by the charge-generation layers or charge transport layers G03G5/0433 and G03G5/0436 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 5/0596 Macromolecular compounds characterised by their physical properties
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 5/0696 Phthalocyanines

Abstract

An electrophotographic recording material comprising a conductive support and a photosensitive layer containing a photoconductive crystalline substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound and/or mixed crystals of said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compounds with unsubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine, wherein said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound represented by general formula (I) defined herein contains a halogen, nitro or cyano substituent, and the major part by weight of said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound and the mixed crystals of said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound with unsubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine is (are) present in the X-morphological form.

Claims

1. An electrophotographic recording material comprising an electrically conductive support and a photosensitive recording layer having charge generating capacity by photo-exposure and containing as photoconductive pigment a photoconductive crystalline substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound and/or mixed crystal pigment of said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound with an unsubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine, characterized in that said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound is represented by following general formula (I):

wherein;

R represents cyano substituent in ortho-position on at least one of the 6-membered rings in the phthalocyanine structure in which each substituted 6-membered ring is only mono-substituted, the possible ortho-positions being marked by asterisk (*), and

x is an integer 1, 2, 3 or 4,

wherein the major part by weight of said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound and mixed crystals of said substituted metal-free phthalocyanine compound with unsubstituted metal-free phthalcyanine is (are) present in the X-morphological form and wherein said electrically conductive support has thereon a positively chargeable photoconductive recording layer which contains in an electrically insulating organic polymer binder at least one p-type pigment substance and at least one n-type photoconductive charge transport substance, wherein (i) at least one of the p-type pigment substances is a compound corresponding to said general formula (I) mainly in morphological X-type form or a mixed crystal pigment mainly with an X-morphology comprising a p-type compound corresponding to said general formula (I) in a molar ratio range from 0.14;

1 to 3.3;

1 with p-type unsubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine, (ii) said layer has a thickness in the range of 4 to 40 μ

m and comprises 5 to 40% by weight of said p-type pigment substances and 0.0001 to 15% by weight of at least one of said n-type charge transport substance(s) that is (are) molecularly distributed in said electrically insulating organic polymeric binder material that has a volume resistivity of at least 10¹⁴ Ohm-m, and wherein (iii) said recording layer in electrostatically charged state requires for 10% and 90% discharge respectively exposures to conductivity increasing electromagnetic radiation that differ by a factor 4.5 or less.

2. Electrophotographic recording material according to claim 1, wherein said photoconductive recording layer has a thickness in the range of 5 to 35 μ

m and contains 6 to 30% by weight of said p-type pigment material(s) and 0.001 to 12% by weight of said n-type transport substance(s).