To develop a hydrogen source for underwater applications, a composite of sodium borohydride and super absorbent polymer (SAP) is prepared by ball milling sodium borohydride powder with SAP powder, and by dehydrating an alkaline borohydride gel. When sodium polyacrylate (NaPAA) is used as the SAP, the resulting composite exhibits a high rate of borohydride hydrolysis for hydrogen generation. A mechanism of hydrogen evolution from the NaBH4-NaPAA composite is suggested based on structure analysis by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The effects of water and NiCl2 content in the precursor solution on the hydrogen evolution behavior are investigated and discussed. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.