Being the most abundant rare-earth metal (about 0.0046wt% of the Earth’s crust), cerium is certainly an element of industrial relevance. Cerium dioxide (CeO2), also called ceria, is the most famous cerium compound, in the wake of its unmatched redox properties and the ability to guarantee an excellent oxygen mobility. It is a powerful oxidant, used in catalysis and in medicine, although ceria-based materials find a central position also in energy devices such as fuel cells and in automotive industry where it is a key component in three-way catalysts in exhaust.
