A type of thymine-covalently decorated conjugated polymer (P3) was synthesized.
P3 displays aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) feature.
Fluorescence of P3 increased significantly with the presence of Hg2+.
Detection limit of ∼15.3 nM for Hg2+ can be obtained by P3.
P3 possess good selectivity, sensitivity and anti-interference toward Hg2+.