Hey, I've been doing electrolysis of pure water (aquafina) with potassium hydroxide (koh) added as a catalyst. I used mechanical pencil lead (graphite) for electrodes because I thought that carbon wouldn't be corroded by the highly caustic koh. Can somebody confirm that a piece of carbon metal (not graphite) will NOT interfere with the reaction (a source would be nice too)? Because the solution has to consist only of water and koh so that hydrogen and oxygen are the only products. Also, I wafted during the experiment, and my nose burned a little, which means something got out. Is this because some trace amounts (unimportant in my experiment conclusions) of koh is coming out with the hydrogen and oxygen bubbles or because something wrong is going on and some other gas is being given off? I know this post is really long. Thanks for bearing with me.