A method of forming an overcoat layer. The method comprises providing a substrate having an imaging structure formed thereon, the imaging structure comprising (i) a charge transport layer and a charge generating layer, or (ii) an imaging layer comprising both charge generating material and charge transport material. An overcoat composition is deposited on the imaging structure, the overcoat composition comprising a charge transport molecule, a fluorinated building block, a leveling agent, a liquid carrier and optionally a first catalyst. The fluorinated building block is a fluorinated alkyl monomer substituted at the and positions with a hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl or aldehyde functional group or the anhydrides of any of those functional groups. The overcoat composition is cured to form an overcoat layer that is a fluorinated structured organic film, the curing comprising treating an outer surface of the overcoat composition with at least one cross-linking process. The crosslinking process forms a cross-linking gradient in the overcoat layer. If the overcoat composition comprises the first catalyst, there is an insufficient amount of the first catalyst to fully cross-link the overcoat layer.

An electrophotographic photosensitive member with suppressed potential variation even in the case that a protective layer including a cured material of a composition having a polymerizable functional group is used is provided. An electrophotographic photosensitive member including a support, a charge generation layer, a charge transport layer containing a charge transporting material, and a protective layer, in the order presented, wherein the charge transport layer contains a polycarbonate resin having a structure selected from a group A and a structure selected from a group B, and the protective layer includes a cured material of a composition containing a compound having at least a functional group selected from chain-polymerizable functional groups and sequential polymerizable functional groups.

An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer. The photosensitive layer is a single-layer photosensitive layer. The photosensitive layer contains a charge generating material, a hole transport material, an electron transport material, and a binder resin. The binder resin contains a polyarylate resin. The polyatylate resin is represented by general formula (1). The hole transport material contains a compound represented by general formula (HTM1), (HTM2), (HTM3), (HTM4), (HTM5), (HTM6), or (HTM7). The photosensitive layer has a scratch resistance depth of no greater than 0.50 m. The photosensitive layer has a Vickers hardness of at least 17.0 HV.

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An electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising at least a photosensitive layer on a conductive substrate, wherein the photosensitive layer is a laminate having a charge transport layer and a charge generation layer, the charge transport layer contains four or more types of compounds each having a maximum absorption wavelength falling within a wavelength range of from 300 nm to 600 nm in a tetrahydrofuran solution at 25? C., and maximum absorption wavelengths falling within the wavelength range of at least four types of the compounds of said four or more types of the compounds are separated from each other by 10 nm or more.

A charge transporting layer of an electrophotographic photosensitive member contains a polysiloxane resin having a terminal structure represented by the formula (1), at least one selected from the group consisting of a polycarbonate resin A having a structural unit represented by the formula (A) and a polyarylate resin B having a structural unit represented by the formula (B), and a charge transporting substance, wherein the content of the siloxane structure in the polysiloxane resin is not less than 0.5% by mass and not more than 10% by mass based on the total mass of whole resin in the charge transporting layer.

Provided are an asymmetric butadiene-based charge transporting compound represented by one of Formula (1) and (1) as in claim 1, an electrophotographic photoreceptor including the asymmetric butadiene-based charge transporting compound, and an electrophotographic imaging apparatus. The electrophotographic photoreceptor including the organic photoconductive material as a charge transporting material may not cause a problem, such as partial crystallization during film formation and may have a high charge potential, a sufficient photoresponsive property with high sensitivity, and a high durability. Moreover, these properties may be all maintained even in the case of exposure to light as well as use in low-temperature environments or high-speed processes, thus having high reliability.

A method of forming an overcoat layer. The method comprises providing a substrate having an imaging structure formed thereon, the imaging structure comprising (i) a charge transport layer and a charge generating layer, or (ii) an imaging layer comprising both charge generating material and charge transport material. An overcoat composition is deposited on the imaging structure, the overcoat composition comprising a charge transport molecule, a fluorinated building block, a leveling agent, a liquid carrier and optionally a first catalyst. The fluorinated building block is a fluorinated alkyl monomer substituted at the and positions with a hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl or aldehyde functional group or the anhydrides of any of those functional groups. The overcoat composition is cured to form an overcoat layer that is a fluorinated structured organic film, the curing comprising treating an outer surface of the overcoat composition with at least one cross-linking process. The crosslinking process forms a cross-linking gradient in the overcoat layer. If the overcoat composition comprises the first catalyst, there is an insufficient amount of the first catalyst to fully cross-link the overcoat layer.

An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a photosensitive layer containing a charge generating material, a charge transport material, and a binder resin. The photosensitive layer is a multi-layer type photosensitive layer or a single-layer type photosensitive layer. The multi-layer type photosensitive layer includes a charge generating layer that contains the charge generating material and a charge transport layer that contains the charge transport material and the binder resin, and in which the charge transport layer is located on the charge generating layer. The single-layer type photosensitive layer contains the charge generating material, the charge transport material, and the binder resin. The charge transport material is an enamine derivative represented by general formula (1). In general formula (1), R.sub.1, R.sub.2, l, m, and n are each as defined in the specification. ##STR00001##