Precipitation of particulate trigonal selenium for use in electrophotography

摘要

Disclosed is a method of forming finely divided photosensitive trigonal selenium particles which are submicron in size and generally spherical in shape. The method comprises forming an alkaline solution containing selenide and/or polyselenide ions, followed by the precipitation of finely divided trigonal selenium particles from said solution by the addition of an oxidizing agent to said alkaline solution. The trigonal selenium particles are formed into a binder layer photosensitive device by dispersing them with an organic resin in solution with an organic solvent which when applied to a substrate in a uniform layer, is heated to remove the solvent and form the device. Continued heat treatment of the device can result in enhancement of its ability to accept an electrostatic charge.