Patent ID: 7250245

Claim:
An imageable member comprising a support and an imageable layer on the support, the imageable layer being rendered more hydrophobic or oleophilic upon thermal imaging, is capable of providing an image without wet processing, and comprises: a) a heat-sensitive ionomer having a net positive or negative charge; and b) a photothermal conversion material comprising carbonaceous particles having thereon both i) an organic moiety having a molecular weight in the range of about 120 Da to about 1000 Da and including an ionic or ionizable substituent having like charge as the ionomer, and ii) a group represented by the formula —X-[NIon] p -R terminal wherein X represents an aromatic group or an alkyl group, NIon represents a non-ionic, non-ionizable group, R terminal represents hydrogen, an aromatic group, an alkoxy group, or an alkyl group, and p is an integer from 1 to about 500.