Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive drum that achieves both of a reduction in torque of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum at the time of its cleaning and an improvement in image transferability. The electrophotographic photosensitive drum includes: a support; and a photosensitive layer arranged on the support, the electrophotographic photosensitive drum having arranged on an outer surface thereof at least two structure groups having different appearance periods, wherein when, out of the two structure groups, a group including structures having a smaller appearance period is defined as a first structure group, and a group including structures having a larger appearance period is defined as a second structure group, a height of the first structure group is lower than a height of the second structure group.

An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer. The photosensitive layer is a single layer, and contains a charge generating material, an electron transport material, a binder resin, and a hole transport material.

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The electron transport material includes a compound represented by general formula (1). The binder resin includes a polycarbonate resin having an end group and a main chain represented by general formula (10).

Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive drum that achieves both of a reduction in torque of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum at the time of its cleaning and an improvement in image transferability. The electrophotographic photosensitive drum includes: a support; and a photosensitive layer arranged on the support, the electrophotographic photosensitive drum having arranged on an outer surface thereof at least two structure groups having different appearance periods, wherein when, out of the two structure groups, a group including structures having a smaller appearance period is defined as a first structure group, and a group including structures having a larger appearance period is defined as a second structure group, a height of the first structure group is lower than a height of the second structure group.

An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor including a charge generation layer; a charging member to charge a surface of the photoconductor; and an exposure unit to expose the surface of the photoconductor to form a toner image on the surface of the photoconductor charged. The exposure unit exposes the surface of the photoconductor by scanning a laser beam in a main scanning direction at a non-constant scan rate, and exposure amount per unit length of the surface of the photoconductor in the main scanning direction is larger in a first region than in a second region. The first region is in the surface of the photoconductor exposed at a first scan rate. The second region is in the surface of the photoconductor exposed at a second scan rate higher than the first scan rate. The charge generation layer is thinner in the first region than in the second region.

There is provided an electrophotographic photosensitive member that can achieve both of an adequately high initial sensitivity as the electrophotographic photosensitive member and reduction in the fluctuation of a light portion potential at the time of repeated use. An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a support, an electroconductive layer and a photosensitive layer in this order, wherein the electroconductive layer contains a binder material and a metal oxide particle; the metal oxide particle has a core material containing a titanium oxide, and a covering layer which covers the core material and contains the titanium oxide; and when the oxygen deficiency ratio of the metal oxide particle is represented by A, the oxygen deficiency ratio of the core material is represented by B, and the oxygen deficiency ratio of the covering layer is represented by C, the Expressions (1) and (2) are satisfied: A2% (1) and 10B<C (2).

An image forming method includes forming an image with a toner using a photoconductor in which an intermediate layer and a photosensitive layer including a charge generating layer and a charge transport layer are formed overlying an electroconductive substrate, wherein the ionization potential of the surface of the photoconductor and the ionization potential of the surface of the toner satisfy the following relations 1 and 2,
|Ip (the surface of the photoconductor)Ip (the surface of the toner)|5.53 (eV) Relation 1
5.45 (eV)Ip (the surface of the photoconductor)5.53 (eV) Relation 2
where Ip (the surface of the photoconductor) represents the ionization potential of the surface of the photoconductor and Ip (the surface of the toner) represents the ionization potential of the surface of the toner.

Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive member that can achieve both of the suppression of a fluctuation in potential of the photosensitive member at the time of its repeated use, and the prevention of the occurrence of a black spot-like image defect at high levels. The electrophotographic photosensitive member includes in this order: a support; an intermediate layer; and a photosensitive layer, the intermediate layer containing particles each containing titanium oxide, and the particles having a mass increase ratio of 0.005% or more when heated under a nitrogen atmosphere from 300 C. to 900 C.

An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor including a charge generation layer; a charging member to charge a surface of the photoconductor; and an exposure unit to expose the surface of the photoconductor to form a toner image on the surface of the photoconductor charged. The exposure unit exposes the surface of the photoconductor by scanning a laser beam in a main scanning direction at a non-constant scan rate, and exposure amount per unit length of the surface of the photoconductor in the main scanning direction is larger in a first region than in a second region. The first region is in the surface of the photoconductor exposed at a first scan rate. The second region is in the surface of the photoconductor exposed at a second scan rate higher than the first scan rate. The charge generation layer is thinner in the first region than in the second region.

An image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photoreceptor including a conductive substrate, an undercoat layer containing a binder resin and metal oxide particles, disposed on the conductive substrate, and a photosensitive layer disposed on the undercoat layer; a charging unit that charges a surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor; an electrostatic latent image-forming unit forming an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor; a developing unit developing the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor by using a developer containing a toner to form a toner image; and a transfer unit that transfers the toner image onto a surface of a transfer-receiving member, but not including a charge erasing member that erases charges on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor. The photosensitive layer formed is 3.8% or more and 17% or less to a carbon element abundance determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

There is provided an electrophotographic photosensitive member that can achieve both of an adequately high initial sensitivity as the electrophotographic photosensitive member and reduction in the fluctuation of a light portion potential at the time of repeated use. An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a support, an electroconductive layer and a photosensitive layer in this order, wherein the electroconductive layer contains a binder material and a metal oxide particle; the metal oxide particle has a core material containing a titanium oxide, and a covering layer which covers the core material and contains the titanium oxide; and when the oxygen deficiency ratio of the metal oxide particle is represented by A, the oxygen deficiency ratio of the core material is represented by B, and the oxygen deficiency ratio of the covering layer is represented by C, the Expressions (1) and (2) are satisfied: A2% (1) and 10B<C (2).