Normal-mode analysis has been combined with experiment to gain new insight into the vibrational structure of dispersed titania. For the calculations, double- and tri-grafted hydroxylated titania species have been adapted to a model silica support based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). The choice of hydroxylated models was validated by IR detection of the 0 H stretching band of dispersed titania (0.7 Ti/nm(2)). UV resonance Raman experiments have identified three titania-related vibrational features within the spectral region 900-1100 cm(-1) due to Ti-O Si interphase, Ti-O Si in-phase and out-of-phase stretching vibrations. This behaviour is fully consistent with the results obtained by the normal-mode analysis. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.