A thorough green route (which adopts common and nontoxic reactants, and generates no by-product) was developed for the synthesis of AlOOH nanoflakes. AlOOH nanoflakes were synthesized conveniently through hydrothermal treatment of Al2O3 powder in deionized water at 190 degrees C for 12-24 h, without the use of any extra additive or template. The characterization results from X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the preparation of AlOOH nanoflakes, which were deficient in oxygen. Furthermore, the room temperature photoluminescence properties of the as-synthesized products were tested. It was found that all the as synthesized products exhibited a strong emission peak centering at around 583 nm upon 291 nm excitation at room temperature, so they had potential application as a photoluminescent material. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.