An AIEgen chemosensor of H 2 hbih, [(E)-N-(2hydroxybenzylidene) isonicotinohydrazide], containing an isonicotinic moiety condensated by salicylaldehyde was prepared and characterized. It can detect Zn 2+ ions selectively in the "off-on" mode based on the coordination polymerization-induced emission (CPIE), with the limit of detection (LOD) being 2.8 × 10 −7 M. The corresponding two-dimensional (2D) coordination polymer of the Zn 2+ complex (1) was synthesized to investigate the response mechanism. Powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction proved that complex 1 is the species formed in the detection system. Sensing of Zn 2+ cannot be interfered by Cd 2+ , as confirmed by the molecular Cd 2+ complex (2) without the CPIE mechanism. H 2 hbih can be successfully applied to bioimaging of Zn 2+ monitoring in mung beans, larval zebrafish, and inner epidermis cells, which sheds light on a new strategy for designing AIE-based chemosensors via polymerization-induced self-assembly.