What were Daguerreotypes made of?
Daguerreotypes were made of copper plates coated with silver.
The plates were dipped in an iodine fluid, which created the
silver-halide "silver iodide." Silver halides are silver molecules
bonded with halogens (elements that end in "-ine"). Silver bromide
and silver chloride are also silver-halides. Why make a
silver-halide? Because these compounds have a property of
photosensitivity (light sensitive). As this coated plates dried,
they were exposed to light, hence the reason for the silver
compound. Afterwards, they were coated again, this time with
mercury heated to 75 degrees Celsius. Finally, they are put in salt
water to finish (this part I don't know why it's done...). The
final picture was usually put in a glass case to protect it; oils
produced by the skin can cause copper to corrode.
I hope this information was helpful. If you need more
information, feel free to let me know.