A mild l-cystine-assisted hydrothermal route to metastable γ-MnS multipods

► γ-MnS multipods consisting of hexagonal prism-like rods were produced by a novel biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal approach using l-cystine as both the sulfur source and complexing agent. ► γ-MnS single-crystal rods preferentially grow along the c-axis [1 0 0] direction. ► The room-temperature PL spectrum shows a strong emission peak at 419 nm corresponding to the MnS band edge emission.