We report a highly sensitive and selective strategy for Cd(II) assay using a singly labeled multifunctional probe consisting of a Cd(II)-specific aptamer (CAP), which acted as a recognition element for Cd(II) and a signal reporter. The presence of Cd(II) can induce the conformational switching of the CAP, accompanied by a change in fluorescence intensity. Thereby, a fluorescence strategy for Cd(II) assay was established. The proposed method has a detection limit of 2.15 nM, which is much lower than the detection limits reported in related literature. This strategy involves only an aptamer prob...