“…Among them are metallic Bi and Si, oxides SiO 2 and SiO x (non-stoichiometric), different crystallographic polymorphs of Bi 2 O 3 (α, β, γ, δ, ε), BiO 2 and BiO 1,5 , and, finally, bismuth silicates, in particular, Bi 2 SiO 5 (metasilicate), Bi 12 SiO 20 (sillenite), and Bi 4 (SiO 4 ) 3 (orthosilicate, or eulytite). The latter bismuth silicates (BSOs) are attractive materials for a number of applications, such as sensors [1], capacitors [2,3], nanothermometers [4,5], acoustic devices and optical devices [6,7], fuel-cells [8], spatial light modulators [9], holographic grafting recorders [10], etc. Moreover, Bi-Si-O based materials find their application as bioactive materials [11], luminescent materials [12,13], and photocatalysts [14,15].…”