Metal-sulfur batteries are recognized as a promising candidate for next generation electrochemical energy storage systems owing to their high theoretical energy density, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, sluggish redox kinetics of sulfur species and the shuttle effect lead to large polarization and severe capacity decay. Numerous approaches from physical barrier, chemical adsorption strategies to electrocatalysts have been tried to solve these issues and pushed the rate and cycle performance of sulfur electrodes to higher levels. Most recently, single-atom catalysts (SACs) with high catalytic efficiency have been introduced into metal-sulfur systems to achieve fast redox kinetics of sulfur conversion. In this review, we systematically summarize the current progress on SACs for sulfur electrodes from aspects of synthesis, characterization and electrochemical performance. Challenges and potential solutions for designing SACs for high-performance sulfur electrodes are discussed.

金属硫电池由于具有较高的理论能量密度，低成本和环境友好性，因此被认为是下一代电化学能量存储系统的有前途的候选者。然而，硫物质的氧化还原动力学迟缓和穿梭效应导致大的极化和严重的容量衰减。为了解决这些问题，人们尝试了从物理屏障，化学吸附策略到电催化剂的多种方法，并将硫电极的速率和循环性能推向更高的水平。最近，具有高催化效率的单原子催化剂（SAC）已被引入到金属硫系统中，以实现硫转化的快速氧化还原动力学。在这篇综述中，我们从合成方面系统地总结了硫电极用SAC的最新进展，表征和电化学性能。讨论了设计高性能硫电极SAC的挑战和潜在解决方案。