Thermophysical Properties of the Hydrogen Carrier System Based on Aqueous Solutions of Isopropanol or Acetone

One concept for the safe storage and transport of molecular hydrogen (H₂) is the use of hydrogen carrier systems which can bind and release hydrogen in repeating cycles. In this context, the liquid system based on isopropanol and its dehydrogenated counterpart acetone is particularly interesting for applications in direct isopropanol fuel cells that are operated with an excess of water. For a comprehensive characterization of diluted aqueous solutions of isopropanol or acetone with technically relevant solute amount fractions between 0.02 and 0.08, their liquid density, liquid viscosity, and interfacial tension were investigated using various light scattering and conventional techniques as well as equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations between (283 and 403) K. Polarization-difference Raman spectroscopy (PDRS) was used to monitor the liquid-phase composition during surface light scattering (SLS) experiments on viscosity and interfacial tension. For comparison purposes and to expand the database, capillary viscometry and dynamic light scattering (DLS) from bulk fluids with dispersed particles were also applied to determine the viscosity while the pendant-drop (PD) method allowed access to the interfacial tension. By adding isopropanol or acetone to water, density and, in particular, interfacial tension decrease significantly, while viscosity shows a pronounced increase. The behavior of viscosity and interfacial tension is closely related to the strong hydrogen bonding between the unlike mixture components and the pronounced enrichment of both solutes at the vapor–liquid interface, as revealed by EMD simulations. For an aqueous solution with an isopropanol amount fraction of 0.04, minor variations in interfacial tension and viscosity were found in the presence of pressurized H₂ up to 7.5 MPa. Overall, the results from this study contribute to an extended database for diluted aqueous solutions of isopropanol or acetone, especially at temperatures above 323 K.