Abstract Ceria nanoparticles (average particle size: 8 nm) have been obtained by the calcination of alginate aerogel beads that were precipitated from aqueous solutions of (NH 4) 2 Ce (NO 3) 6. These nanoparticles were considerably more active as a catalyst for CO 2- insertion into aliphatic α, ω-diamines than the analogous commercial CeO 2 with larger particle size (40 nm). CeO 2 that was obtained by templating with the natural alginate ...
