A material that rapidly absorbs molecular oxygen (known as an oxygen scavenger or deoxygenation agent (DOA)) has various industrial applications, such as in food preservation, anticorrosion of metal and coal deoxidation. Given that oxygen is vital to cancer growth, to starve tumours through the consumption of intratumoral oxygen is a potentially useful strategy in fighting cancer. Here we show that an injectable polymer-modified magnesium silicide (Mg₂Si) nanoparticle can act as a DOA by scavenging oxygen in tumours and form by-products that block tumour capillaries from being reoxygenated. The nanoparticles are prepared by a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis strategy. In the acidic tumour microenvironment, the Mg₂Si releases silane, which efficiently reacts with both tissue-dissolved and haemoglobin-bound oxygen to form silicon oxide (SiO₂) aggregates. This in situ formation of SiO₂ blocks the tumour blood capillaries and prevents tumours from receiving new supplies of oxygen and nutrients.

快速吸收分子氧的材料（称为除氧剂或脱氧剂（DOA））具有多种工业应用，例如食品保鲜，金属防腐和煤炭脱氧。鉴于氧气对癌症的生长至关重要，因此通过消耗肿瘤内的氧气来饿死肿瘤是对抗癌症的潜在有用策略。在这里，我们表明，可注射的聚合物改性的硅化镁（Mg ₂ Si）纳米颗粒可以通过清除肿瘤中的氧气并形成副产物来阻止DOA氧化，从而起到DOA的作用。纳米颗粒通过自蔓延高温合成策略制备。在酸性肿瘤微环境中，Mg ₂Si释放出硅烷，该硅烷与组织溶解的氧和与血红蛋白结合的氧有效反应，形成氧化硅（SiO ₂）聚集体。SiO _2的这种原位形成会阻塞肿瘤的血液毛细血管，并阻止肿瘤接受新的氧气和营养供应。