Toner
A toner comprising a toner particle that contains a binder resin and a release agent, wherein the toner particle has a surface layer that contains an organosilicon polymer and the luminance histogram of a backscattered electron image of the toner particle has two peak values P 1 and P 2 and a minimum value V between P 1 and P 2 , P 2 originates from the organosilicon polymer, and the luminance giving P 1 and P 2 are in specific ranges, percentages for P 1 and P 2 are each at least 0.50%, and using the luminance Bl at V as a reference point, specific relationships are satisfied by A 1 , AV, and A 2 , where A 1 is the total number of pixels at luminance from 0 to (Bl−30 ), AV is the total number of pixels at luminance from (Bl−29 ) to (Bl+29 ), and A 2 is the total number of pixels at luminance from (Bl+30 ) to 255.
1. A toner comprising a toner particle containing a binder resin and a release agent, wherein
the toner particle has a surface layer that contains an organosilicon polymer; and
for a luminance histogram, obtained by acquiring a backscattered electron image of a 1.5 μm-by-1.5 μm square of the surface of the toner particle in scanning electron microscopic observation of the toner particle surface, and classifying a luminance of each pixel constituting this backscattered electron image into 256 levels from a luminance of 0 to a luminance of 255, and moreover placing the luminance on an abscissa and the number of pixels on an ordinate in this luminance histogram,
(i) two peak values P 1 and P 2 and a minimum value V between P 1 and P 2 are present, and the peak containing P 2 is a peak originating from the organosilicon polymer,
(ii) the luminance giving P 1 is from 20 to 70,
(iii) the luminance giving P 2 is from 130 to 230,
(iv) a percentage for P 1 and a percentage for P 2 with respect to the total number of pixels in the backscattered electron image are each at least 0.50%, and
(v) formulas (1) and (2) below are satisfied
( A 1/ AV )≥1.50 (1)
( A 2/ AV )≥1.50 (2)
where Bl is the luminance giving V, A 1 is the total number of pixels in a luminance range from 0 to (Bl−30), AV is the total number of pixels in a luminance range from (Bl−29) to (B1+29), and A 2 is the total number of pixels in a luminance range from (Bl+30) to 255.
2. The toner according to claim 1 , wherein
the organosilicon polymer forms a network structure on the toner particle surface;
when the total pixels in the backscattered electron image are divided into a pixel group A for the luminance range from 0 to (Bl−30) and a pixel group B for the luminance range from (Bl−29) to 255, a network structure due to the pixel group B is observed, with the pixel group A being net openings; and
for the domains formed by the pixel group A:
(i) a number-average value for an area is from 2.00×10 3 nm 2 to 1.00×10 4 nm 2 , and
(ii) a number-average value for a particle Feret diameter is from 60 nm to 200 nm.
3. The toner according to claim 1 , wherein the organosilicon polymer is a polymer having a structure represented by formula (RaT3) below:
in the formula, Ra represents a hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 6 carbons or represents a vinyl polymer segment that contains a substructure represented by formula (i) or formula (ii), where * in formulas (i) and (ii) represents a binding segment with an element Si in the structure represented by formula (RaT3), and L in formula (ii) represents an alkylene group or an arylene group.