Metal to insulator transition in Ba2Ge2Te5: Synthesis, crystal structure, resistivity, thermal conductivity, and electronic structure

•Single-phase polycrystalline Ba2Ge2Te5 was synthesized for the first time.•The crystal structure was confirmed by Rietveld refinement and SCXRD studies.•The resistivity measurements show metal to insulator transition below 18 K.•The thermal conductivity study of Ba2Ge2Te5 shows a low value of 0.41 Wm–1K–1 at 773 K.•Electronic structure calculations suggest a narrow bandgap for Ba2Ge2Te5.