ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Tasked with developing ways to extend the lifespan of printer components – and reduce their impact on the environment – a group of scientists at Xerox Corporation  have developed a new chemical armor that protects photoreceptors, the light-sensitive elements in xerographic machines. Protected from normal wear and tear, a photoreceptor coated with the new "armor" can
survive more than one million revolutions – nearly doubling its usable
life.

"The long life of the photoreceptor reduces the need for replacement
cartridges, enabling a 33 percent reduction in waste," said Yonn
Rasmussen, vice president of the Xerographic Component Systems Group.
"Customers experience less down time, and therefore reduced
interruptions to work flow, improved productivity, and fewer service
calls."

Photoreceptors are multi-layer thin film devices that convert light
into electrostatic images. They must be replaced periodically due to
surface wear and scratches that can affect image quality.

"This novel long life overcoat is an example of cutting-edge chemistry
at work that required both materials and process innovation," said
Giuseppa DiPaola-Baranyi, laboratory manager for Materials Integration
at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. "The ultimate goal is to
develop photoreceptors that will last the entire life of the machine.
For example, when you scratch your hand and you heal, that's a
biological process. We are looking at how to mimic nature and leverage
our expertise in smart materials design and nanotechnology to create
molecules for next-generation photoreceptors with self-healing
capabilities."

The new photoreceptor works in the standard machine design with no
additional hardware changes or added costs to the customer. This
invention has broad applicability across Xerox's product portfolio and
is being first implemented in the Xerox 4112/4127 light production
monochrome  printers.

A global, multi-disciplinary team from the Xerox Research Centre of
Canada, the Xerographic Component Systems Group engineering team in
Webster, N.Y. and the manufacturing team in Venray, The Netherlands,
advanced the project from the pilot plant stage in Canada to
production in Venray in less than one year, a record time for
commercializing a new technology such as this.