Method for replenishing coatings on printhead nozzle plate

Abstract

A method for replenishing fouled coatings on a nozzle plate for an ink jet printhead, the nozzle plate comprising the following layers in the order recited: i) a first monomolecular layer of an organic material having first and second functional groups, the first functional group of the first monomolecular layer being bound to the surface of the nozzle plate, and the second functional group of the first monomolecular layer being bound to a second monomolecular layer, and ii) the second monomolecular layer of an organic material having first and second functional groups, the first functional group of the second monomolecular layer being bound to the second functional group of the first monomolecular layer, and the second functional group of the second monomolecular layer being an anti-wetting group, the second monomolecular layer having been fouled; the method comprising A) unbinding the first functional group of the fouled second monomolecular layer so that it is no longer bound to the second functional group of the first monomolecular layer; B) removing the fouled second monomolecular layer; and C) reattaching a new, unfouled second monomolecular layer to the first monomolecular layer; the new, unfouled second monomolecular layer comprising an organic material having first and second functional groups, the first functional group of the second new, unfouled monomolecular layer being bound to the second functional group of the first monomolecular layer, and the second functional group of the new, unfouled second monomolecular layer being an anti-wetting group.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.