Oxygen-defective zinc oxide nanoparticles as highly efficient and safe sonosensitizers for cancer therapy.

Herein, an oxygen defect-modulated zinc oxide sonosensitizer is designed, which enhances the absorbance of ultrasound energy and suppresses the recombination of ultrasound-initiated electrons and holes to promote reactive oxygen species yield. It achieves a high tumor inhibition efficiency of 79.9%, which exhibits a potential application for sonodynamic cancer therapy.