Conventionally, friction is understood as an efficient dissipation mechanism
depleting a physical system of energy as an unavoidable feature of any
realistic device involving moving parts, e.g., in mechanical brakes. In this
work, we demonstrate that this intuitive picture loses validity in nonlinear
quantum electrodynamics, exemplified in a scenario where spatially random
friction counter-intuitively results in a highly directional energy flow. This
peculiar behavior is caused by radiation friction, i.e., the energy loss of an
accelerated charge due to the emission of radiation. We demonstrate
analytically and numerically how radiation friction can enhance the performance
of a specific class of laser-driven particle accelerators. We find the
unexpected directional energy boost to be due to the particles' energy being
reduced through friction whence the driving laser can accelerate them more
efficiently. In a quantitative case we find the energy of the laser-accelerated
particles to be enhanced by orders of magnitude.