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US 6,582,868 B2Granted
Image forming apparatus and developing agent
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTakashi Urabe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A developing agent comprising a photocatalytic component is employed, wherein the developing agent is irradiated with predetermined light to decompose water molecule, thereby making it possible to prevent the electric charge of developing agent from being dissipated, which may be otherwise caused to occur due to the water that has been adsorbed onto the developing agent.
Claims16
An image forming apparatus comprising;
- an image carrier;
- and
- a developing device for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on said image carrier by a developing agent to form a developing agent image, said developing device being disposed to face said image carrier and provided with a member containing a photocatalytic component which is capable of photo-decomposing water molecules to produce active oxygen, and with a light-irradiating mechanism for irradiating light with a wavelength for activating said photocatalytic component.
A developing agent which comprises a binder resin, a coloring agent, and a photocatalytic component which is capable of photo-decomposing water molecule to thereby produce active oxygen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.