Electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction (ECR) has become one of the main methods to close the broken carbon cycle and temporarily store renewable energy, but there are still some problems such as poor stability, low activity, and selectivity. While the most promising strategy to improve ECR activity is to develop electrocatalysts with low cost, high activity, and long-term stability. Recently, defective carbon-based nanomaterials have attracted extensive attention due to the unbalanced electron distribution and electronic structural distortion caused by the defects on the carbon materials. Here, the present review mainly summarizes the latest research progress of the construction of the diverse types of defects (intrinsic carbon defects, heteroatom doping defects, metal atomic sites, and edges detects) for carbon materials in ECR, and unveil the structure–activity relationship and its catalytic mechanism. The current challenges and opportunities faced by high-performance carbon materials in ECR are discussed, as well as possible future solutions. It can be believed that this review can provide some inspiration for the future of development of high-performance ECR catalysts.

电催化二氧化碳（CO ₂）还原（ECR）已成为关闭断裂碳循环和暂时储存可再生能源的主要方法之一，但仍存在稳定性差、活性低、选择性低等问题。而提高 ECR 活性的最有希望的策略是开发具有低成本、高活性和长期稳定性的电催化剂。近年来，由于碳材料缺陷导致的电子分布不平衡和电子结构畸变，缺陷碳基纳米材料引起了广泛关注。在此，本综述主要总结了碳材料在 ECR 中各种类型缺陷（本征碳缺陷、杂原子掺杂缺陷、金属原子位点和边缘检测）构建的最新研究进展，并揭示构效关系及其催化机理。讨论了 ECR 中高性能碳材料当前面临的挑战和机遇，以及未来可能的解决方案。可以相信，这篇综述可以为未来高性能ECR催化剂的发展提供一些启示。