Particulate material production method and apparatus, toner production method and apparatus, and toner

A particulate material production apparatus for producing a particulate material, comprising:

• a droplet ejector including:
• a liquid column resonance chamber which contains a particulate material composition liquid therein and which has at least one nozzle, wherein the particulate material composition liquid includes at least a solvent, and a component of the particulate material dissolved or dispersed in the solvent;
• and
• a vibrator to vibrate the particulate material composition liquid in the liquid column resonance chamber to form a standing wave in the particulate material composition liquid, so that droplets of the particulate material composition liquid are ejected in a droplet ejection direction from the at least one nozzle so as to fly in a space in a flight direction, wherein the at least one nozzle is located at a location corresponding to an anitnode of the standing wave;
• a gas feeder to feed a gas in a direction substantially perpendicular to the droplet ejection direction to change the flight direction of the ejected droplets;
• and
• a solidifying device to solidify the ejected droplets in the space to form the particulate material.