Electrophotographic photosensitive member, process cartridge, and electrophotographic apparatus

Abstract

An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a support, a charge generating layer containing a charge generation material, and a charge transporting layer containing a charge transport material in this order, the charge transporting layer serving as a surface layer. The charge transporting layer contains a polycarbonate resin having a particular structural unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising, in a following order:
 a support;   a charge generating layer containing a charge generation material; and   a charge transporting layer containing a charge transport material and serving as a surface layer,   wherein the charge transporting layer contains:
 a polycarbonate resin (iii) having a structural unit represented by formula (3-1) and a structural unit represented by formula (3-2), or 
   
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (3-1), R 1  to R 4  each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an alkoxy group; R 5  represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group having 1 to 9 carbon atoms; and i represents an integer of 0 to 3, 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (3-2), R 6  to R 9  each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an alkoxy group, and X represents an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom. 
     
     
         2 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (iii), and   the charge generation material is a phthalocyanine crystal.   
     
     
         3 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (iii), and   a content of the structural unit represented by the formula (3-1) in the polycarbonate resin (iii) is 25 mol % or more and 70 mol % or less.   
     
     
         4 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 1 , wherein the charge transport material is a triarylamine compound. 
     
     
         5 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 1 , wherein the charge transporting layer contains a resin having a siloxane structure. 
     
     
         6 . An electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising, in a following order:
 a support;   a charge generating layer containing a charge generation material; and   a charge transporting layer containing a charge transport material and serving as a surface layer,   wherein the charge transporting layer contains:
 a polycarbonate resin (ii) having a structural unit represented by formula (2-1), a structural unit represented by formula (2-2), and a structural unit represented by formula (2-3), 
   
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (2-1), R represents a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, or a phenyl group, 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (2-2), R 15  to R 18  each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an alkoxy group, and X represents a single bond, an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, or a sulfonyl group, 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (2-3), R 211  to R 214  each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an alkoxy group; R 215  represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, or an alkoxy group; R 216  and R 217  each independently represent an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms; and i 211  represents an integer of 0 to 2. 
     
     
         7 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (ii), and   when numbers of repetitions of the structural unit represented by the formula (2-1), the structural unit represented by the formula (2-2), and the structural unit represented by the formula (2-3) in the polycarbonate resin (ii) are respectively a, b, and c, a/(a+b+c) is 0.10 to 0.40.   
     
     
         8 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (ii), and   when numbers of repetitions of the structural unit represented by the formula (2-1), the structural unit represented by the formula (2-2), and the structural unit represented by the formula (2-3) in the polycarbonate resin (ii) are respectively a, b, and c, b/(a+b+c) is 0.30 to 0.60.   
     
     
         9 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (ii), and   when numbers of repetitions of the structural unit represented by the formula (2-1) and the structural unit represented by the formula (2-2) in the polycarbonate resin (ii) are respectively a and b, a/b is 0.20 to 1.20.   
     
     
         10 . An electrophotographic photosensitive member comprising, in a following order:
 a support;   a charge generating layer containing a charge generation material; and   a charge transporting layer containing a charge transport material and serving as a surface layer,   wherein the charge transporting layer contains:
 a polycarbonate resin (iv) having a structural unit represented by formula (4-1) and a structural unit represented by formula (4-2), 
   
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (4-1), R 11  to R 15  each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, an ethyl group, or a phenyl group, and R 16  represents a linear alkyl group having 6 to 15 carbon atoms, and 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       in the formula (4-2), R 21  to R 24  each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, an ethyl group, or a phenyl group, and X represents an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, a single bond, or a sulfonyl group. 
     
     
         11 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (iv), and   a number of moles of the structural unit represented by the formula (4-1) in the polycarbonate resin (iv) is 0.2 times or more and 7.0 times or less a number of moles of the charge transport material.   
     
     
         12 . The electrophotographic photosensitive member according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the charge transporting layer contains the polycarbonate resin (iv), and   a content of the structural unit represented by the formula (4-2) in the polycarbonate resin (iv) is 50 to 80 mol %.