quality:correction, structural:summarization
Other uses

Due to its heat resistance and its affinity to oxygen and nitrogen, hafnium is a good scavenger for oxygen and nitrogen in gas-filled and incandescent lamps. Hafnium is also used as the electrode in plasma cutting because of its ability to shed electrons into the air.

The high energy content of Hf was the concern of a DARPA -funded program in the US. This program eventually concluded that using the above-mentioned Hf nuclear isomer of hafnium to construct high-yield weapons with X-ray triggering mechanisms—an application of induced gamma emission —was infeasible because of its expense. See hafnium controversy.

Hafnium metallocene compounds can be prepared from hafnium tetrachloride and various cyclopentadiene -type ligand species. Perhaps the simplest hafnium metallocene is hafnocene dichloride. Hafnium metallocenes are part of a large collection of Group 4 transition metal metallocene catalysts that are used worldwide in the production of polyolefin resins like polyethylene and polypropylene.

A pyridyl-amidohafnium catalyst can be used for the controlled iso-selective polymerization of propylene which can then be combined with polyethylene to make a much tougher recycled plastic.

Hafnium diselenide is studied in spintronics thanks to its charge density wave and superconductivity.