*2.3. Physicochemical Characterization*

Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) measurements were recorded by Bruker D8 Advance (Bruker AXS Inc., Madison, WI, USA) X-ray diffractometer with Cu KĮ radiation (1.5418 Å) at a 40 kV accelerating voltage and 30 mA. Raman measurements were performed with Renishaw Raman Microspectrometer (RM1000 System, Renishaw, Tokyo, Japan) of spectral resolution of 1 cm<sup>í</sup><sup>1</sup> and spatial resolution of ~2.5 nm (using 50X Objective and 514.5 nm laser line). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were captured using a Philips XL30 CP microscope equipped with EDX (energy dispersive X-ray) (Philips*,* Eindhoven, The Netherlands). The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area (calculated from nitrogen adsorption data) was measured on a Quantachrome NOVA 1000 system at í180 °C. UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) were recorded using Analytik Jena Specord S600 spectrometer (Analytik Jena AG, Jena, Germany) (diffuse reflectance accessory with integrating sphere) by using BaSO4 as a reference. All the above charecterizations were performed for the prepared nanocrystalline TiO2 and Ag-TiO2*.* The thermal property of composite materials was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry using Mettler-Toledo DSC823e (Mettler-Toledo AG, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland), and scans were performed at 5 °C/min for each composite under nitrogen flow and *T*g value was extrapolated from the curves of second run.
