A method for producing a toner for developing an electrostatic charge image includes: mixing at least one flocculant into a liquid dispersion containing binder-resin particles by adding the flocculant into the liquid dispersion containing binder-resin particles while circulating the liquid dispersion containing binder-resin particles between a stirring vessel and a disperser that applies a mechanical shear force; forming aggregated particles by heating the liquid dispersion with the flocculant therein after reducing the viscosity of the liquid dispersion; and forming toner particles by heating the liquid dispersion containing the aggregated particles and thereby making the aggregated particles fuse and coalesce.

A preparing method of an electrostatic charge image developing toner includes: aggregating binder resin particles in a dispersion containing the binder resin particles to form aggregated particles; and coalescing the aggregated particles by heating a dispersion containing the aggregated particles to form toner particles, in which the aggregating includes adding a divalent or higher valent metal salt compound to the dispersion containing the binder resin particles, and the preparing method satisfies the following Requirement (1), Requirement (1): a ratio M/S of a total metal ion amount M (mol) generated from the divalent or higher valent metal salt compound to a total surface area S (m.sup.2) of the binder resin particles at a start of the aggregating is 1.5×10.sup.10 or more and 2.5×10.sup.13 or less.

A method for producing a toner for developing an electrostatic charge image includes: performing first aggregation that involves aggregating at least resin particles and releasing agent particles contained in a dispersion to prepare a dispersion A containing first aggregated particles; performing second aggregation that involves adding a dispersion B containing shell resin particles to the dispersion A and aggregating the shell resin particles to form second aggregated particles; and heating and fusing the second aggregated particles to form fused particles. A total of 40 mmol or more and 190 mmol or less of a basic compound is added, per kilogram of toner particles to be obtained, from a time aggregation starts to terminate in the second aggregation to a time a temperature is elevated to a fusion temperature in the heating and fusing.

A preparing method of an electrostatic charge image developing toner includes: aggregating binder resin particles in a dispersion containing the binder resin particles to form aggregated particles; and coalescing the aggregated particles by heating a dispersion containing the aggregated particles to form toner particles, in which the coalescing includes heating the dispersion containing the aggregated particles to 80° C. or higher so that a temperature of the dispersion containing the aggregated particles reaches 80° C., and then adding an acid and a surfactant to the dispersion containing the aggregated particles.

Fluorescent latexes are provided. In embodiments, a fluorescent latex comprises water and fluorescent agent-incorporated resin particles, the particles comprising a resin and a Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) pair comprising a fluorescent brightener having a fluorescence emission spectrum and a fluorescent dye having an absorption spectrum that overlaps with the fluorescence emission spectrum of the fluorescent brightener, wherein the fluorescent latex exhibits FRET under illumination with ultraviolet (UV) light. Fluorescent toners made from the fluorescent latexes are provided. Methods of making and using the fluorescent toners are also provided.

A toner comprising a toner particle and a silica particle on a surface of the toner particle, wherein an area formed by a polyester resin and an area formed by a styrene-acrylic resin are present on the surface of the toner particle; the silica particle has the number-average particle diameter of 15 to 60 nm; the silica particle has the average pore diameter of 5.0 to 20.0 nm; and the silica particle has the total pore volume of 0.20 to 1.50 cm.sup.3/g.

An image forming method uses an electrophotographic photoreceptor and a toner for developing an electrostatic charge image. The image forming method has a charging step, an exposure step, a developing step, a transfer step and a cleaning step, wherein the charging step uses a contact charging device; the photoreceptor has a universal hardness value (HU) of 170 N/mm.sup.2 or more, and an elastic deformation ratio of 40% or more when a Vickers indenter is used in a predetermined environment and pushed by a maximum load of 2 mN. The toner for developing an electrostatic charge image contains toner base particles of a core-shell structure having a shell layer of 10% by mass or less with respect to a mass of a toner base particle on an outside of a resin constituting a core particle, and a solubility parameter value (SPs) of a resin constituting the shell layer is 10.75 or less.

The toner includes a toner particle that comprising a core particle containing a resin component and a shell on a surface of the core particle, wherein the resin component comprises more than 50.0 mass % of a polyester resin comprising a monomer unit that contains a heterocyclic group, and the shell comprises at least one resin selected from the group consisting of prescribed (meth)acrylic resins and melamine resins.

A binder resin for toner includes an amorphous polyester resin and a crystalline polyester resin. The amorphous polyester resin has a weight average molecular weight of 5,000 to 30,000, inclusively, and contains 1 mol % to 10 mol %, inclusively, of a constituent unit having a pendant group with 3 to 32, inclusively, carbon atoms. The crystalline polyester resin has a weight average molecular weight of 5,000 to 15,000, inclusively. The binder resin has an endothermic amount Tg2nd-dH of 5 J/g to 50 J/g, inclusively.

A toner comprising a toner particle that comprises a toner base particle and an outermost layer present on the toner base particle surface, the toner base particle containing a binder resin wherein a plurality of concave portions are formed on the toner particle surface, and when T (nm) is an average thickness of the outermost layer in analysis of a cross section of the toner particle as observed with TEM, and a (nm) is a long diameter, b (nm) is a short diameter and d (nm) is a depth of each of the concave portions, respectively, when the concave portions on the toner particle are measured by using SPM from an outermost surface of the outermost layer toward the toner particle center, when “n” represents a number of the concave portions that satisfy specific relationships per 1 μm.sup.2 of the toner particle surface is 30 to 200.