## 3 Results and Discussion
Note the early formation of these small flowers for samples synthesized at 200 \({}^{\circ}\)C (Supplementary Figure S1). Figure 3 shows XRD diffractograms at different temperatures and synthesis times of the MoS\({}_{2}\) nanostructures, in addition to the XRD diffractogram of cellulose paper and the JCPDS n\({}^{\circ}\) 37-1492 card pattern of 2H-MoS\({}_{2}\) for comparison purposes [28; 45]. Dashed vertical lines are used to facilitate the identification of phases in the diffractograms obtained at different temperatures and synthesis times. It is possible to identify regions, close do 15\({}^{\circ}\) and 22\({}^{\circ}\), with the characteristic peaks of the cellulose diffractograms, the 2H-MoS\({}_{2}\) phases with XRD peaks at -32.8\({}^{\circ}\), -49.8\({}^{\circ}\), and 57.8\({}^{\circ}\) relative to (100), (105), and (110) planes, respectively. For 20 \(>\) 30\({}^{\circ}\) the XRD peaks fit well with JCPDS card n\({}^{\circ}\) 37-1492, where the presence of (100) and (110) peaks, at -32.8\({}^{\circ}\) and 57.3\({}^{\circ}\) respectively, show that the samples present similar atomic arrangement along the basal planes with the bulk MoS\({}_{2}\). According to the standard 2H-MoS\({}_{2}\) diffractogram pattern, represented by the JCPDS card n\({}^{\circ}\) 37-1492 shown in Figure 3, there is a diffraction peak at 14.4\({}^{\circ}\) regarding the plane (002) of the layered material. However, two other peaks appear in the diffractogram, at 9.3\({}^{\circ}\) and 18.6\({}^{\circ}\), identified in Figure 3 by # symbols. MoS\({}_{2}\) is a representative 2D layered material and the weak van der Waals interaction between MoS\({}_{2}\) layers favors the intercalation of molecules and ions in this space [32; 46]. The interlayer distance of the (002) plane, referring to the 14.4\({}^{\circ}\) peak, of intercalation-free MoS\({}_{2}\) is 0.62 nm, while the corresponding interlayer distances of 9.4\({}^{\circ}\) and 18.6\({}^{\circ}\) peaks, present in the diffractograms of the synthesizes samples, were 0.93 nm and 0.49 nm, respectively, calculated using the Bragg equation. Several groups attribute the interlayer distances of 0.93 nm and 0.49 nm to the distance between two adjacent MoS\({}_{2}\) expand layers--resulting from the intercalation of different materials as CTAB [47], mesoporous carbon (MoS\({}_{2}\)/m-C) [48], NH\({}_{4}\)\({}^{+}\)[49], and NH\({}_{3}\) molecules [46]--and that distance between intercalated molecules and the adjacent MoS\({}_{2}\) layers, respectively [32; 47; 48; 50]. Other authors have attributed the 18.6\({}^{\circ}\) peak to a second-order diffraction [49] It is important to note that, while some authors have attributed the shifted 9.4\({}^{\circ}\) and 18.6\({}^{\circ}\) peaks to the presence of 1T-MoS\({}_{2}\) phase [49,51], [PERSON] et al. [52] have alerted about the difficult to use the expanded interlayer spacing of MoS\({}_{2}\) as direct evidence to confirm the existence of the 1T-MoS\({}_{2}\) phase. [PERSON] et al. have shown that the use of the Na\({}_{2}\)MoO\({}_{4}\)2H\({}_{2}\)O and CS(NH\({}_{2}\))\({}_{2}\) with high thiourea concentration induce the formation of ammonium ion intercalated into MoS\({}_{2}\) layer [49]. In the synthesis procedure presented in this work, Na\({}_{2}\)MoO\({}_{4}\)2H\({}_{2}\)O and thiourea were used as precursors of molybdenum and sulfur, respectively, in the proportion of (1:4). Thus, we believe that the MoS\({}_{2}\) nanosheets grown on cellulose paper substrates by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method present NH\({}_{4}\)\({}^{+}\) intercalated between layers of MoS\({}_{2}\).