Polymeric Dye Inkjet Colorants with High Waterfastness

Abstract

Ink compositions used in inkjet printers can be classified as either pigment based, in which the colorant exists as pigment particles suspended in the ink composition, or as dye based, in which the colorant exists as a fully solvated dye species that consists of one or more dye molecules. Commonly used dye-based inks suffer poor waterfastness and low durability against wet rub abrasion, which can render text and universal packaging code information illegible. A subclass of dye-based inks may contain polymeric colorants in which a chromophore is covalently bound to a polymer structure. This presentation describes our work with a class of polymeric colorants that can be utilized in ink compositions for inkjet printing that are stable, do not adversely affect the performance of an inkjet nozzle, and deliver images with high waterfastness.