Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction (ECR) can convert CO₂ into various value-added fuels or chemicals, thus becoming a promising route for balancing the carbon cycle and realizing the low-carbon economy. Recently, the single-atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged and flourished in the field of ECR due to their unsurpassed atom utilization efficiency and unexpected high catalytic performance. Analogy to the recipe for cuisine, this review gives a comprehensive description of the methods to prepare SACs for ECR, and outlines the pathway from CO₂ to target products. Moreover, the SACs that exhibit high catalytic performance towards ECR are systematically summarized in the aspects of support material, ligands, coordination number, porous structure, and position, just like regulating the “ingredients” of soup base for transforming CO₂. Finally, the challenge and perspective for further upgrading SACs in the ECR domain are expounded. It is hoped that this review would give a general recipe to develop highly efficient (delicious) SACs in ECR.

电催化CO ₂还原（ECR）可以将CO ₂转化为各种具有附加值的燃料或化学品，从而成为平衡碳循环和实现低碳经济的一条有前景的途径。近年来，单原子催化剂（SAC）由于其无与伦比的原子利用效率和意想不到的高催化性能而在 ECR 领域出现并蓬勃发展。类似于烹饪食谱，这篇综述全面描述了 ECR 制备 SAC 的方法，并概述了 CO ₂的途径目标产品。此外，从载体材料、配体、配位数、多孔结构和位置等方面系统地总结了对 ECR 具有高催化性能的 SAC，就像调节汤基转化 CO ₂的“成分”一样。最后，阐述了在 ECR 领域进一步升级 SAC 的挑战和前景。希望这篇综述能够提供在 ECR 中开发高效（美味）SAC 的一般方法。