Patent ID: 7070903

Claim:
A coating formulation for a printing plate precursor having a surface, which contains a photocatalyst and is capable of showing hydrophilicity when exposed to activating light having energy higher than band gap energy of said photocatalyst, said coating formulation being to be applied onto said surface, wherein said coating formulation comprises fine particles of a thermoplastic resin having both a property that said fine particles unite to said surface of said printing plate precursor when heated and a property that said fine particles decompose under action of said photocatalyst when exposed to said activating light, wherein said coating formulation has a property of absorbing non-activating light having energy lower than said band gap energy of said photocatalyst and then evolving heat, and wherein said coating formulation is decomposed and removed when exposed to said activating light, including in cases where a resin component is plasticized, and wherein said fine particles have an average particle size in a range of from 0.01 to 5 μm, a weight average molecular weight Mw of not higher than 400,000, a ratio of Mw to a number average molecular weight Mn, Mw/Mn, of not greater than 4, and a glass transition temperature (Tg) in a range of from 20 to 180° C.