Single crystal growth, transport, and electronic band structure of YCoGa5

[Display omitted] •Single crystals of YCoGa5 were grown from the Ga self-flux method for the first time.•No superconductivity is observed down to 1.75K.•The s–d scattering is the major scattering mechanism for resistivity.•We figure out that the physics origin of the similar properties between YCoG5, YbCoGa5 and LuCoGa5. Single crystal of YCoGa5 has been grown via Ga self-flux. In this paper, we report the single crystal growth, crystallographic parameters, resistivity, heat capacity, and band structure results of YCoGa5. YCoGa5 accommodates the HoCoGa5 type structure (space group P4/mmm (No. 123), Z=1, a=4.2131(6)Å, c=6.7929(13)Å, which is isostructural to the extensively studied heavy fermion superconductor system CeMIn5 (M=Co, Rh, Ir) and the unconventional superconductor PuCoGa5 with Tc=18.5K. No superconductivity is observed down to 1.75K. Band structure calculation results show that its band at the Fermi level is mainly composed of Co-3d and Ga-4p electrons states, which explains its similarity of physical properties to YbCoGa5 and LuCoGa5.