  Candidates compounds for new thermoelectric and superconducting materials,
which have narrow band gap and flat bands near band edges, were exhaustively
searched by the high-throughput first-principles calculation from an inorganic
materials database named AtomWork. We focused on PbBi$_2$Te$_4$ which has the
similar electronic band structure and the same crystal structure with those of
a pressure-induced superconductor SnBi2Se4 explored by the same data-driven
approach. The PbBi$_2$Te$_4$ was successfully synthesized as single crystals
using a melt and slow cooling method. The core level X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy analysis revealed Pb2+, Bi3+ and Te2- valence states in
PbBi$_2$Te$_4$. The thermoelectric properties of the PbBi$_2$Te$_4$ sample were
measured at ambient pressure and the electrical resistivity was also evaluated
under high pressure using a diamond anvil cell with boron-doped diamond
electrodes. The resistivity decreased with increase of the pressure, and two
pressure-induced superconducting transitions were discovered at 3.4 K under
13.3 GPa and at 8.4 K under 21.7 GPa. The data-driven approach shows promising
power to accelerate the discovery of new thermoelectric and superconducting
materials.
