Thermoelectric materials are considered as promising candidates for sustainable energy generation owing to their inherent capability of directly converting waste heat into electricity. Enhancing the thermoelectric conversion efficiency is crucial for their practical applications. Here, we study the pressure effect on the thermoelectric performance in Yb-filled ${\mathrm{CoSb}}_3$ skutterudite, a highly efficient thermoelectric material. By applying external pressure, we find the significant increase of power factor to a high value of $2.9 {\mathrm{mW}\mathrm{m}}^{-1}{\mathrm{K}}^{-2}$ at room temperature. Such an enhancement is attributed to a pressure-driven electronic phase transition, as supported from the electrical transport measurements and electronic band structure calculations. This study thus establishes a connection between thermoelectric performance and the electronic phase transition and points to a route to further increase the power factor through the introduction of the electronic phase transition in thermoelectrics.

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• Thermoelectrics
• Semiconductors
• Density functional theory
• Transport techniques